I have a colleague who usually does different ones for internal and external: internal will be “I’m currently in the pouring rain in a tent in the Cotswolds. I get back (hopefully without trenchfoot!) on Monday Date. Whilst I’m getting soggy please contact Email Address.” and external is just “I’m on annual leave between X and Y and will not be accessing my email. Please contact Email Address if you need assistance during this time.” We all really like their internal ones.
Select File > Automatic Replies. In the Automatic Replies box, select Send automatic replies. On the Inside My Organization tab, type the response that you want to send to teammates or colleagues while you are out of the office. Select OK to save your settings.
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Thank you for your email. I’m currently out of the office until [date] to celebrate the holiday with my loved ones. I won’t have my phone with me all the time.
This information will help the person reaching out to you gauge whether their message can wait for your response or if they need to contact someone else instead.
However, I will be taking periodic breaks from binge-watching everything I’ve missed to check my email [once per day/every evening/occasionally] while I’m away.
Start with a friendly greeting. Skip the "Greetings," "Salutations," "Dear sir/madam." These are far too stuffy and robotic. Instead, start off your response with a simple "Hi" or Hello.
Season’s Greetings! It’s my favorite time of year, which means I’m currently out of the office chugging mugs of cocoa, stuffing my face with cookies, and attempting to fulfill my life-long goal of memorizing every single line of [FAVORITE HOLIDAY MOVIE]. 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 [NAME] at [EMAIL] so that the other elves in this workshop can help you out. Happy ho-ho-holidays!
I should note that our voicemail system has a pretty straightforward feature to put an end date on an out-of-office voicemail message. I am baffled why this person does not use the feature.
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Plus, he incorporated a delightful technique to let people know that if they really wanted him to read their emails, they should probably send them again after his return. Not only does that keep the sender accountable by saying, "If this is really important, you know when to reach me," but it also helps him truly vacate his work while he's away. And that's hard to do.
We have one key administrative assistant who works part time and I always forget — I appreciate that she sets an OOO every day because her department is very deadline driven and it helps me to remember that if I need something from them, I need to connect with her in the morning. We also have some staff who work the school year calendar and others who are year round; the OOO is so helpful in the summers!
Since I’m out of the office for the Thanksgiving weekend, I’ll respond to your email with a list of 10 things I’m thankful for: Copiers that collate Co-workers that brew more coffee when they empty the pot Donuts on Mondays AND Fridays When IT surprised me with a new laptop AND remembered to transfer my files When You-Know-Who died at the end of book 7 Dry-erase boards that actually erase The brave soul who cleaned out the refrigerator When I’m early to an all-staff meeting and score a table near the door HR finally sent a memo telling people to STOP clipping their nails at their desk OOO autoresponders
I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m on holiday. I won’t be able to connect with you until [date]. However, there’s good news too: my colleague [Name] will help you with pleasure.
17) I cannot handle your emails until I return on mm/dd/yyyy. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
There's no shame in using Christmas to indulge in your childhood movie tastes, but there is shame in not sharing that adorable side of yourself when people are trying to reach you during the holidays.
List the full name, phone number and email of an assistant or a coworker who can respond to messages and meet deadlines in your absence. If more than one person is handling your duties, list each one and the reason for contacting them. In some cases, you may consider providing a way to reach you in case of an emergency.
Giving the option to contact an email address containing "interruptyourvacation" provides two things — 1) A dose of humor, and 2) discouragement from actually doing what the name suggests. Plus, he prefaces it with a request for empathy, by explaining that he promised quality time to his family.