The question last week about “thanks in advance” had me wondering about your thoughts on this person’s manager’s out-of-office reply in this video. I found it to be super condescending and way too much. What do you think? Would be interested in readers’ out-of-office messages.
An away message will generally be a 160-character auto-reply message that can be turned on or off as needed.
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Here’s my OOO nightmare: when I was a graduate intern a few years ago, there was a volunteer with severe, marginally treated mental health concerns. Her behavior toward me was inappropriate to the point that my school assisted me with a safety plan. I obviously blocked her on everything I could think of. Unfortunately while I was on winter break she emailed my agency address from an account no one knew about, got my OOO message, assumed it meant I was open to communicating again, and proceeded to have a monthlong meltdown in my inbox when I didn’t respond. To this day I am grateful for my city’s utter lack of public transit, which prevented her from trying to find my home and family.
Note: The following steps are for users with a Microsoft Exchange account. If you don’t see the words, “Connected to: Microsoft Exchange” at the bottom of your Outlook window, check out our article on how to set up out of office in Outlook with an IMAP/POP3 account.
I do that for most cases. Occasionally I’ll change it to “I’m out of the country and will not have phone or email access.”
But interestingly enough, exboss never set her out of office emails when she was out of the office or teleworking. Curious how the rules never applied to her. So glad to get away from her. This isn’t even the tip of the Toxic Boss Iceberg that was her. You are unavailable until x date, and I’ll get back to you after that date. Done. (sorry, didn’t think about email OOO stuff. Hey, it’s the 90’s here at my work place.)
In the excitement of office parties and the long-awaited holiday break, don’t leave your office closure preparations till the last minute. Here is a holiday checklist you can share across your organisation to tick off the year and the office:
During the holidays, you may also want to send holiday greetings to colleagues who are on the same team as you. In this situation, your message can be more casual and include inside jokes, depending on how close you are to your coworkers. Take a look at these holiday messages to colleagues.
I’ll be back in the office on 7/19 and will happily respond then. Have a great weekend! Holiday Out-of-Office Messages 10. “Holiday revelry and debauchery ahead. Proceed with caution (if you dare).”
Thank you for your email. I’m away from my desk until [return date] trying to corral my kids between family visits and holiday sugar highs.
I’ve only seen it used for certain roles – usually admin-type ones – where people are fielding a significant amount of requests, so the potential vacation backlog could become prohibative and discourage people from taking time off.
Hello, We are currently closed for the holiday. If it’s something urgent you can email [name] at [email]. Kind regards. [Name/signature]
However, some people may have inboxes that require a week to manage after vacation. Others do not read all the emails sent in this period. In these special cases, indicate when the reader should actually expect a response or request they re-send their email on the return date.
This is one reason I rarely give a contact person. My company is terrible at communication, and not only could you easily be sent on a OOO chain, you could also be emailing someone who is out who didn’t even use OOO.
My grandboss used to put in his OOO: ‘I’m out of the office. If you need x or y, contact Andy or Jane. They know stuff.
It’s wise to check they aren’t though. A colleague once had an out of office from an academic that simply said ‘on fieldwork’. Just those two words.
The use of animated holiday email signatures creates a sense of memorability as it is more eye-catching and engaging. Ornaments and gifts with Santa and reindeers flying will take it up a notch and increase your chances of a unique email signature. Sometimes, a minor detail may be enough to make it amazing.