I know a lot of people who never vacation for more than a few days because the email backlog becomes incredibly stressful upon their return; this is one way to meaningfully combat that which is somewhat in the employee’s control.
I mean, sometimes I put up an OOO because I’m on vacation and not checking email. Sometimes I put one up because I’m travelling for work and will only have sporadic access to my laptop, but might get to check once or twice a day. In my role, it’s important to make that distinction. Maybe it’s not so important for other people.
.
Also, a lot of you have asked where you can find Aviation Gin, so I had the whizzes in our website department whip up this locator aviationgin.com/locator
My coworker went out on disability for surgery and left an ominous OOO saying she would be out and did not have a return date, multiple people contacted me bc they were freaked out. The message suggested people reach out to me in her absence and spelled my name wrong, we’ve been working together for 4 years.
I hate unnecessary out of office messages. You don’t need to tell me you will be out for two hours. If it was that important, I would not be using e-mail!
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.
9. Office Closed for Christmas. Use this template for Christmas holidays. Hi (specify the Name field id), Our office will remain closed for Christmas. We assure you that all your emails will be answered as soon as we return to the office.
Subscribe to our newsletter and receive a promo code to save $5 on your next product purchase or service.
Here’s wishing each and every one of you the fun and joyous holiday you truly deserve! Tweet Examples & Tips for Festive Out-Of-Office Email Responses Whether you’re taking time off for festivities, using the last of your holiday entitlement, absent through winter illness or your company conducts a Christmas shutdown, you probably need to utilise your email out-of-office function in December.
Before we leave you to your own devices, we have some sample messages featuring different ways you can automate text replies to serve your business.
I should add that I actually WISH I got more exciting OOO messages and/or that I felt like I could be more exciting with mine!
Thankfully, with a simple out of office message taking a day off doesn’t mean that your communication with clients has to stop.
I was once horrified as an HR person, and amused as a normal person, by an OOO from an employee who had left the company. They had booked vacation for their last week or so, and while I can’t remember the exact text, it said that they were no longer with the company and they were happy to leave and never come back. I think “to this hellhole” was only implied.
I have a message saying I don’t listen to voice mail, because I only see that a message has been left after several days. No idea why the lag, it’s been the same despite going through two phones and two operators. There are always other ways to contact me. Last time I got voicemail it was the police, the officer was calling from a landline so he couldn’t text. Luckily it wasn’t urgent (he needed a witness statement, but I hadn’t witnessed anything of interest to the court).
Funny emails are getting trendy, but they have to be used properly. If you are absolutely sure that your recipients will have a chuckle, go ahead and write a funny out-of-office auto-reply. It might make their day.
My absolute favorite was the one that literally said “hodilay”. Typo included, capitalization, or any other words, not.
So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote the above hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, "Splinter" is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza.)