I am on annual leave until [DD/MM/YY]. I will allow each sender one email and if you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until there is only one remaining. Choose wisely.
The tone of your out-of-office auto-reply may vary depending on the intended recipient of your email.
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Not exactly a neutral audience, though. A number of people following the account, if not most, will be following because they share the same sense of humor. Likewise people @ed by friends.
An automatic response should include the date when you left, a reason (vacation, sick leave, a conference, etc) and, if possible, the date when you plan to come back. Thank your client for their email, promise to get back to it as soon as possible and apologize for the inconvenience. Also, it should be obvious that you’re out of office from the first sentence.
Have you ever called a company’s support line just to be confronted with an unsympathetic and confusing attendant menu? Or tried to reach a representative, but pressing the “0” key does nothing?
You don’t have to stop using OOO messages. Instead, they need to be used wisely. It’s okay to suggest an alternate contact while you are unavailable or add a date when you will be back in action. Just skip the details about why you set up the out of office message. No one needs to know that your son is getting married in Paris. Remove any personal details in that message, including personal cell phone numbers or an alternate email where you can temporarily be reached.
By bringing some automation into the process, you not only ensure that your staff is leaving vacation email messages that cover what’s needed, but you’re also eliminating the possibility that team members will forget to turn them on.
Have you ever considered how your office design could be having a negative impact on the way your employees work?
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.
That’s just sloppy. We always check who will be available, because usually someone is. We also have a service address, and usually use that for OOO–messages. Then the ones working are responsible for those messages. That said, in my branch nobody seriously awaits an answer in July, but I’m in academica.
My bank still does that, and it seems to serve a good purpose there–I appreciate knowing if I should call someone else to get things done that day.
A former coworker used to always include a kitten picture when she submitted invoices.
There are some places where the culture absolutely embraces this type of…expression so it may be that it works just fine.
Leaving an email without a responder can appear unprofessional, lose potential business and, worst of all, make you look like Scrooge!
Whatever you decide before heading out for that much-needed time off, it’s imperative that you set up an out of office reply. Your customers and co-workers don’t get that same pause button as you do. That’s why you should inform everyone that needs to know about your time off.
I have no idea how to update my voicemail message and I don’t actually know what it says. I occasionally get voicemails that are automatically forwarded to my email as sound files but I don’t think I have ever had a business related voicemail land there (it is rare that I get calls from outside the company and most people in the company if they can’t reach me on the phone will IM me directly–we use Teams for both phone and messaging).
I meant email. The phone calls were similar, but a whole other problem. Your overdue notice? Did you discuss it with Head of Circulation (who knew the background)? No? Let me transfer you.