You kicked off this week hard, meeting deadlines, delivering year-end results, tying up loose ends, and getting a jump-start on 2018 initiatives. With a sigh of relief you’re beaming with excitement for holiday cookie decorating, quirky family Christmas traditions, and sweet S-L-O-W mornings sipping coffee and relaxing (read: Netflix binge)… It’s time to wrap up the computer, well, save the paper for your presents, and set your out of the office message. We’re here to help.
I think this was from some outside contractor: “I have decided to retire to Pluto. Please send all work related enquiries to Cecil.Mongoose at llamagroomers dot com, or if you prefer an intergalactic means of communication my personal address is fergus at pluto dot com.”
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Too little info is frankly worse, IMO. All you need for an OOO is date you are coming back, and who to contact in your absence if it can’t wait for your return. If it doesn’t have that, why bother having one at all?
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How long you’re out of the office forWho to contact while you’re awayYour return date
Yes, I phoned a dentist office late in the day for a reinfected root canal problem and got a cutsy “humphrey bogart” fake reply on their voicemail — I thought it was extremely inappropriate for a business office to use something like this. It was hard to find it funny, especially because while calling me “sweetheart” and all that, the message didn’t actually tell me when they might return my call (later that day? Next day? Next week? Never?) nor did they offer any options for emergency contact with another dentist.
You don’t have to worry at all about your queries they will all be answered as Ms. [NAME] has taken the responsibility to answer each email of you. So, you can enjoy your vacation. Your holidays will start from 10-01-20XX and will end on 20-01-20XX. Hope to see you all in the office on 21-01-2020. Wish you all the best of holidays. Related posts September 28, 2021 Naid 0 Letter of Agreement for Reduced Pay September 27, 2021 Naid 0 Kick-Off Meeting Invitation Email Samples
Please note that all queries and orders posted at least [X] days before [starting date of the holidays] or during holidays will be processed immediately once we are back at the store.
I’ll be 1 percent connected while on vacation so I’m not 100 percent panicked on return. Thank you for emailing me.
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I’ve never had a funny / pithy OOO. Clearly I’m missing out! It’s literally, “Hi, I’m OOO from x to x, and will be returning x. Please contact Fergus if you need immediate assistance.” Maybe I should live a little!
Company President doesn’t want sales to use ‘out-of-office’; they’d prefer that the customer feel we were always available for them – 24/7. They also say that vacation are just nicer places to read emails….
I recently described myself as being “out of the virtual office.” Away from the virtual office” would probably have been even more precise. I think whatever you say, people will understand what you mean.
I use a basic OOO message – “Hi! I’m out of the office x date(s). I will return your email when I’m back at my computer on x date. If you have an urgent matter, please contact x or y. Have a nice weekend/holiday/etc!/Thanks!” My office WANTS us to use more personal and witty OOO messages like this article’s message. And that stresses me out. I don’t want to spend time worried about whether my OOO is witty. I don’t want to annoy other people just looking for basic info like when am I back and who they can contact in the meantime. I correspond a lot with third parties on serious matters (legal), and I don’t think a message like that is appropriate. So, I just keep using my basic message and hope my supervisor’s supervisor doesn’t email me and see that I’m not “trying.” Ugh.
Check out how easy it is to set up this essential process with your email account in this video I’ve posted to my YouTube channel.
I don’t know what to say these days – I’m still working from home so “out of the office” doesn’t sound right any more, but ‘off work’ seems like too much? I’m probably way overthinking it but I’ve felt stuck every time I need to write one lately.
My office has a shared vacation calendar, which I think is a more helpful way to handle this.