I am the LW! It’s interesting, having Alison type out the OOO reply comes across less condescending than how it did in video. I’m sure it works for their office but it also says a lot, potentially, about their culture that she’d need to write something out like that in the first place! Usually “I’m OOO from X to X, please contact X for (reason)” should suffice.
There are a lot of ways to improve your out of office message, but you should first make sure that you covered the most important stuff.
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I agree that the reasons are not relevant. But at my last company, a coworker had overly short out of office messages. Examples: “out of office today.” Or “out of office until Monday.” With no additional information about coverage, etc. Those always felt overly curt to me and made me wonder, is this person okay? Was this OOO planned or are they on the verge of a mental breakdown? (It was a very toxic culture so this wasn’t out of the question). I would be curious to hear others perspectives on this. Is too little information just as bad?
One of the most common mistakes people make when setting up their auto replies is making them long. Nobody wants to read a long email message — and especially so when it’s an email message that tells them you’re not going to reply right now.
The boss’s thinking was that people who did drivebys looking for you would then email you, see your OOO, and then be able to call you to talk about whatever they were driving by for. No one liked putting their personal contact info so we never worked from home (pre-COVID and pre-VOIP implementation) or told people to IM us and we’d call them.
Just say you’re away from your desk! Or if you’re out for more than a day, just say you’re “away” until XYZ date.
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I’ll be out of the office on vacation for the next week. I will probably see your message because I don’t know how to relax and will likely respond if I feel that I need to help in any way. Otherwise, I’ll get back to you when I return. Thanks!
A. No. All of the restaurants, including Starbucks and other eateries in Thompson Student Union, will be closed during winter break. They will reopen the second week of January.
The boss’s thinking was that people who did drivebys looking for you would then email you, see your OOO, and then be able to call you to talk about whatever they were driving by for. No one liked putting their personal contact info so we never worked from home (pre-COVID and pre-VOIP implementation) or told people to IM us and we’d call them.
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But this is where it becomes a power thing. The OOO person says that everyone else wants stuff from them that the sender can’t get elsewhere and you need to grovel to get it from them.
Short for automatic reply, auto messages are texts sent without the need for manual intervention. They’re also almost always in response to a triggering action. General auto reply: A pre-written response like an out-of-office message that can be turned on and off.Specific auto reply: This kind of message is only sent when a particular action is taken. For example, when a text-to-join keyword is texted to your number. These are also sometimes referred to as triggers.
With these tips, you’ll be able to write your next auto-reply message, for holidays or other reasons.
My favorite was one the one that said “I am out of the office and don’t plan on ever returning.”
Please note that I will be completely disconnected from email and will not be checking messages until I return. So, if you need urgent assistance, please send an email to [Contact Name] at [contact email].
You’ll find everything you need to set up an out of office message at the very bottom of the ‘General’ tab there.