5. 5 The Friendly Professional. Season’s Greetings! Thanks for getting in touch. I’m out of the office enjoying the holidays until [date]. I’ll respond as quickly as I can when the festivities are over and I’m back at my desk.
Like the previous examples, the message doesn’t have to be lengthy – you just need to let people know the details, and who they should be contacting in your absence.
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If your phone system allows employees to receive external calls at their desks, instruct them to record a "closed for the holidays" message or "out of office" voicemail greeting that gives callers essential details about the closing.
This email is humorous because anyone going on a family trip knows the ups and downs of having everyone together on the table. Harry’s both sarcastic and light-hearted same time giving us this amazing getaway auto-reply that most of us couldn’t agree more to:
My pet peeve is OOOs for the afternoon/an appointment when the person who set it up is NOT good at responding to emails in a timely fashion. If someone usually requires multiple reminders and follow up emails for me to get a reply to an email after 2 weeks, I don’t really need a notification that their responses will be delayed an hour until they get back from the doctor. It makes me think “who are you responding to that quickly, and why can’t you reply to me that fast??”
If you can, include the sender's original message in the automatic reply, to help them 'unsubscribe' you of any list or to remind them about their enquiry, which can be forwarded to someone more suitable.
Most awkward/painful one I ever saw was a former co-worker. ~10 years ago when he left on paternity leave, he said as much in his out of office. The baby was stillborn. It stayed up for the month or so until he returned. Those of us in the same office of course knew the situation, but we regularly communicated directly with multiple offices in different states and countries. The very first time I saw it I was overcome with dread about how many congratulations he would receive and have to tell the story to. I was much younger and afraid to rock the boat then, but I think now I would push his manager and IT to use their ability to access his account and change it.
The following examples and text ideas can be used for almost any kind of holiday / vacation messages. You can switch the language of the text blocks by pressing the tab button.
Confirm your greeting is set for each day you are closed to play the “holiday” or “closed” greeting. Check your on-call option is working properly, when applicable.
“We all need breaks from time to time. Today I will be disconnecting from all things work, and going for a walk to smell the roses and soak in the sunshine.”
If you set up a vacation reply but people say they are not getting the reply, it could be one of the following:
40 Holiday Messages for Employees, Colleagues & the Boss Home » Holidays » Holiday MessagesUpdated: May 16, 2021
I don’t use the OOO. If you’re supposed to be able to reach me by email, I have already proactively notified you of my absence. If you’re not supposed to be able to reach me by email, your email is already in the junk folder and I think it’s cruel to offer you false hope I’m going to read it upon my return from the rare PTO I take.
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Thank you for your e-mail! I’m out of the office and will have limited access to my e-mail. I will respond to you upon my return.
As with all winter breaks, but especially in a longer break, division and department leaders are responsible for ensuring that external contacts are aware of the closures and as appropriate salaried staff are performing services as necessary to meet the needs of the community during the closure, including checking email/voicemail and responding to time-sensitive matters.
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