Honest communication, even in the form of an email auto reply, is a roadmap. It helps people understand how best to help you and, in turn, allows them to better help themselves. Straightforward expectation setting is a way to be respectful of your coworkers’ time and pressures, but most importantly, it’s a way to be respectful of and guard your time. Even if you don’t feel an intense need to be more open in your workplace correspondence, consider modeling the behavior for others who work with you or, especially, those who work for you. It’s a small change in behavior but it’s a meaningful one. And this summer is the perfect time to start.
Research shows that vacations are beneficial to our physical and mental health, work performance, and productivity. To replicate this research, I’m conducting a participant observation study until DATE, and will be out of the office. In the interim, if you have an urgent request, please reach out to EMPLOYEE. Otherwise, I’ll be in touch upon my return.
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If you're going to be away on medical leave for an illness or a medical procedure and you're going to be gone for a while recovering, you should add this in your out of office email (if you feel comfortable with it). The reason is so your contacts can accord you the needed privacy to heal. This is entirely optional though, if you don't feel comfortable including it, you can leave it out. Hello, Thank you for reaching out. I am currently out of the office on medical leave from September 7 to August 1. I'll be checking my emails intermittently, but in case of an emergency, please send an email to [email protected] or call her on 123-456-7890. Thank you for understanding. Jaden Kruger 7. Temporary Out-of-Office Email for Holidays
“We went to New Zealand and I informed everyone in my [out of office] that I was ‘bungee jumping in Queenstown’, which seemed like what I should do in Queenstown,” the reader said.
Hi and thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office on [DATE]. Please contact my manager, [EMAIL] for assistance.
“some things are MORE important than work” definitely comes off as aggressive to me. “How DARE you email me when I’m doing something MORE IMPORTANT, and for that matter why aren’t YOU spending time with YOUR family?!”
A thing my employer does is when someone leaves, they just shutoff the email. So someone goes to the trouble of writing an out of office explaining that they have retired or accepted a job somewhere else and where someone can go for help and IT just nukes the email address 24 hours after the person leaves. Then whomever was contacting them has no idea where to turn next. It is a terrible policy.
While injecting a little humor into your vacation email message can sometimes be a good idea – depending on your company and contacts – avoid oversharing and keep it professional at all times.
So here's a breakdown for how to write the perfect, most concise out-of-office message.
Yeah this sort of chain is why we got an out of office address for each department. It went to the managers who were never all off at the same time.
My OOO replies are relatively boring…usually state if I’m using PTO or at a conference, dates, who to bother in my place, etc.
Yes. We do it that way in part because someone might be at a satellite office but out of OUR office and still be able to access emails, OR they might be completely offline at the beach. Saying you’re not answering emails can be helpful.
I used to have this on my personal voice mail, back when voice mail was used often since internet was over phone lines. I stopped using it because it confused too many callers. Invariably the first message would be “Hello? Hello? Mark? Fu-” (click). Then there’d be another call with a proper message.
By which I mean to say: I’m on holiday, I’m definitely sunburnt, and I’m sorry I missed your email.
I’m currently out of the office this week as I’ve taken some time off to travel. However, I’ll reach out to you when I’m back.
In the excitement of office parties and the long-awaited holiday break, don’t leave your office closure preparations till the last minute. Here is a holiday checklist you can share across your organisation to tick off the year and the office:
Our store will be closed until the end of the week for [Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year]. We are happy to inform you that all of your emails will be answered once we are back on [date].