How to Set Your Out of Office in GmailOut-of-Office Message Best PracticesOut-of-Office Message Examples
Yes! I would roll my eyes *a*lot* at that message – it comes across as someone taking themselves way too seriously.
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I didn’t actually put that in my maternity leave out-of-office, but it is what I did when I got back.
Even though you're not actually responding to the email, you still need to mind your Ps and Qs. After your greeting, add "Thanks for your email."
So, professionals are expected to use out-of-office email autoresponders whenever they will be out of reach for a fairly long time.
I work with such a person. So instead of something like “I’m writing to ask if you would graciously consider serving on our committee”, she will send a message along the lines of: “I am graciously writing to ask you to serve on our committee.”
But I will be taking periodic breaks from eating, binge-watching, and probably from cooking, too, to check my email [once per day/every evening/occasionally] while I’m away.
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That’s what I always reasoned… better to annoy with too much information that saves hassle on the backend then be brief upfront and sentence people to OoO purgatory.
Because you can never predict when an emergency will come up, make sure you have someone who can resond to urgent requests. And that person would be your direct manager. But let them know ahead of time so they're not blindsided when they need to respond to something.
“Hi, Sorry I missed your call/text. I’m currently out of the office and will not be back until Feb 2. My colleague [name] has agreed to respond on my behalf, so feel free to forward the message to [phone] if it is urgent. You can otherwise expect a response from me once I return. Thanks for understanding.”
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.
I have a co-worker who isn’t exactly known as a hard worker. To the point that the fact she’s still employed has been a real hit to the overall team morale. Anyway, she has an auto-reply that basically says, “I’m at work but I’m really overwhelmed by all the things I have to do today so I will get back to you when I can.” Makes us all even angrier that she still has a job.
This particular message is too freakin long and it makes me watch it, too. Har har, thanks for wasting my time.
Our auto-replies to outside people are two or three paragraphs long though, which feels ridiculous but is actually necessary.
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.
If you want people to remember that you’re away, do something humorous or different, suggests Misner. “The normal out of office message that says you’re not available and you’re on vacation is fine, but not memorable,” he says.