The big issue I have with the example in the post is that not only is it unnecessarily long-winded, but you have to listen through all the chattiness to get to the “here’s who to contact in a real emergency” part. The tone does rub me wrong, but I’m willing to roll with that as a personality/company culture thing.
I’ll be back in front of my computer on [date] and will respond to your message at that time. If you need immediate assistance, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email] so that the other elves in this workshop can help you out.
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The problem is that some people will just keep the old message, with contact information for their coverage and whatnot. If you do this, it’s important to change the date.
A. The following supply chain operations will be impacted by the winter break schedule: Purchasing and Receiving for Main Campus, and academics on Health Science Campus, will be closed. Please plan your purchases accordingly and work with purchasing to ensure any deliveries occur the week prior to winter break. Be cognizant of perishable needs and do not place orders that may end up sitting until after New Year's Day in UPS or FedEx hubs.
Start by recognizing your backup contacts for the time when you are out of the office. Make sure that, when needed, they can be available to help customers instead of you. Meeting with your co-workers and making everything clear should be one of your top priorities. The person who covers you while you are gone should not find that out by receiving an email out of nowhere. Be professional and plan everything properly — you are about to take a break, after all.
And yet regardless of your job description, the humble OOO can do much more besides simply telling people not to expect a prompt reply. Crafted subtly enough, it can even drum up business for you. While they wait for you to respond, perhaps they’d like to check out your new website or sign up for your monthly newsletter?
Dear Customer, Our office is closed and you can expect to hear back from me by [date]. Have a great holiday! Regards [Name/signature]
6.) Bienvenue chez John Doe. Notre service téléphonique n’est pas occupé pendant les vacances. Les heures d’ouvertures peuvent être trouvés sur notre site www.johndoe.de. Nous vous remercions pour votre confiance et nous vous souhaitons d’agréables vacances et une bonne nouvelle année.
https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/420oan/companywide_email_30000_employees_autoresponders/
Point out trends you’ve seen in your friend over and months and years, such as improvements in how he or she relates to others. If you know it’s a struggle for your friend to keep her cool under deadlines at work, you could tell her, “I’ve noticed how patient you are with your office coworkers lately.”
Bon voyage! You’re going on your holidays and you’re completely leaving the office behind. This is the perfect auto-response if you won’t be checking your emails the entire trip.
Way too long, but so hilarious. I don’t get condescending at all. I’m drooling while imagining I had this on my work phone when everyone thought their requests were life or death. Actually, I wanted my message to say, “I realize you think your request is vitally important, but I’d like to reassure you: I worked in a hospital years ago, and good news! It’s really not.”
I’ll get back to you when I return to civilization. Or to an area with WiFi. Or to the office on May 10th. Whichever comes first.
You probably received a number of these emails, and thus you should be familiar with the information out-of-office emails provide.
Such emails can range from strictly professional and formal to funny, depending on the occasion. You can use those messages in a way that would drive traffic to your website or serve as an instrument to form a stronger bond with your customers.
Ha! Maybe she was short-circuiting someone who would send an email and then come over to her desk 5 minutes later to “see if you got my email.”
Use your auto-reply to promote your expertise—you're going to a well-known industry conference, after all. You multitask and use your out of office to connect with colleagues/clients who are also attending the conference or event.