As 2020 winds down, lots of people (us included) will be out of the office celebrating the holidays with family and friends. Here are some really funny, clever and snarky out-of-office messages sent this year, courtesy of HubSpot Blogs (full article here).
I am currently out of the office and will not have access to email. Please contact Elena Prince at [email protected] in my absence.
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There is never a time that isn’t right to share the love. Do well to share these messages with friends and loved ones.
To help you write yours, here’s everything you need to know, along with a few out of office templates for you to choose from:
This is what I’ve seen most often in my career. Problem is, the contact is almost always the admin. I’m the admin. Everyone’s idea of assistance is different. Often, I didn’t have the knowledge about the issue in order to be of any assistance. I wound up spending more time running around looking for answers than actually working on what was on my own plate. It’s exhausting. Otherwise known as “please don’t call us for unicorn problems when we handle llamas. Literally, we can’t do anything for unicorn problems.”
I’ve started going really, really simple on OOO messages – literally just “I’ll be out of the office until ___, please contact ___ for questions about ____”
“We will get in touch with you very soon”.“Thank you for reaching out to us”.“Our representative we contact you ASAP”.
Several of my coworkers still have page-long “Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, our department will be…” auto-replies set up 24/7, even though the basic function of our office has barely changed. I’m currently working odd part time hours right now, and if there weren’t so many of these annoying emails going around, I’d have one that clarifies my email timelines, but I don’t want to be another spammer.
Well, but as others have pointed out, that depends on the part-time job and the industry. If you don’t work Tuesdays and Thursdays, but those are considered standard hours in your business, clients or other folks outside the office might email you on Tuesday morning with something important, not hear back and not know why — and get irritated. If they get an OOO, they now know what to expect or they have a backup option if the matter is urgent.
Yes, with all the holiday planning of feasts and gifts and decorations, there is also the important task of drafting your holiday auto-responder text. You need to let your colleagues and clients know that you’ll be away from your desk celebrating the spirit of the season (and not reading their emails!).
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As your email will not be forwarded, please contact in the meantime my colleague, Mary, 0912345678, [email protected].
I would be SUPER annoyed to get this! I agree it seems condescending and it’s just too long.
Thank you for your email. I am out of the office for maternity leave until ( the date you expect to return from maternity leave).
And just like that, you covered the essentials. You don’t always need to have a Shakespeare-like auto-responder. If you, however, prefer a little creativity, continue reading- it gets more interesting.
Website: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/temporary-voicemail-greeting-examples-2533547
You can also schedule your auto replies ahead to send at a specific time for a set it and forget it solution.