You don’t need to say how long you’ll be away, adds Tim Reeves, principal of the ad agency Allen & Gerritsen. “That just makes you feel guilty, particularly if you’re taking a glorious two-week vacation,” he says. “Just say when you’ll be back. It feels way better.”
Most awkward/painful one I ever saw was a former co-worker. ~10 years ago when he left on paternity leave, he said as much in his out of office. The baby was stillborn. It stayed up for the month or so until he returned. Those of us in the same office of course knew the situation, but we regularly communicated directly with multiple offices in different states and countries. The very first time I saw it I was overcome with dread about how many congratulations he would receive and have to tell the story to. I was much younger and afraid to rock the boat then, but I think now I would push his manager and IT to use their ability to access his account and change it.
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If you are seeing this message, it is because I’m retired and having the time of my life. I may be out gardening, or fishing, or on a well-earned Caribbean cruise with my wife. Something you can look forward to when you’ve reached my status and vintage.
If you’re an events-based business, use your out of office auto-reply as a way to promote your upcoming conferences, sessions, and speakers! Jason here, thanks for reaching out to ThinkTank! I’m currently at a speaking event in Chicago. Find out if I’ll be coming to your city here https://txt.st/PQB
1.) Добро пожаловать в «Вася Пупкин и Ко». Наша телефонная горячая линия не работает во время праздников. Наш график работы можно найти на нашем сайте www.joendoe.de – Благодарим вас за оказанное доверие. Желаем вам и вашим близким приятных праздников и счастливого Нового года.
I actually hate that feature – I LOVE manually updating it myself but I know most of my coworkers benefit from having it that way.
Here are some samples and templates of automatic reply messages across various scenarios.
People really just need to know that I’m either definitely not going to reply (annual leave) or might but delayed (all day meetings) plus when I’m back and who to contact if it is urgent.
1.) Bienvenue chez John Doe. Notre ligne téléphonique n’est pas prise en charge pendant les vacances. Nos heures de bureau peuvent être trouvées sur notre site www.joendoe.de – Merci pour votre confiance. Nous vous souhaitons de bonnes vacances et une bonne nouvelle année.
To create a new OOO template from scratch, go to Settings → Smart Tools → Templates, click + Add Template, and select Out-of-Office from the menu.
One of the real joys this holiday season is the opportunity to say thank you and wish you the very best for the new year. Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year. Wishing you the gifts of the season — Peace, Joy, Hope. Merry Christmas.
Give yourself some slack when promising people to keep up with their messages. If your vacation ends on January 18, but you know that you won’t be able to check up on old emails for the next couple of days, mention that in your reply.
If their message is urgent or they’d like to contact someone else instead, you can let them know what to do.
There’s just one problem with this approach: you’ve now obligated yourself to regularly check your email the whole time you’re out.
Website: http://www.effective-business-letters.com/Letter-Informing-about-Holiday-Closure.html
Very true, if the options came in reverse order (or maybe emergency first followed by not-urgent followed by urgent) that would be a little better.
Although out of office emails are usually used when a person’s on holiday, they can also be used in a number of other circumstances.