I once worked with a guy whose out of office reply stated that he was out at an interview, and whether or not he returned depended on how the interview went. He returned, so I guess it didn’t go THAT well.
Before I implemented this system, I got *way* too many calls asking if so-and-so was out of the office that day when an OOO tells them that Bob will be back in three hours and to call Sue in the interim. The OOOs have reduced status check calls to practically zero, and the OOO preview pops up in our system as soon someone’s email is entered.
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During the holidays, many offices shut down in a way that they do not throughout the rest of the year. For these rare few days, you may be completely inaccessible to customers and unable to help employees who are trying to sneak in a little extra work through the holidays. Use this checklist to make sure that you've shut down the office correctly--and that you're able to get everything back up and running smoothly again when the holidays are over.
Consider also adding a funny GIF or a meme to such an email, some interesting but silly facts, or maybe include a short and harmless joke.
The auto-reply will stop on the date you set for it to stop. If you did not set a start and end date, it may be using a date that is already past. Check this in Gear Icon>Automatic Replies>End Time.
I just want short and sweet. Mine says, “I will be out of the office until X Date. If you need assistance before then, please contact my department at [email protected] or (000)000-0000. I will reply to messages when I return.”
I follow this TikTok account and she has a TON of these. I think it’s a culture thing. It would be inappropriate in many places but clearly it isn’t there.
As CEO of a company, it is customary to send out organization-wide holiday wishes to all employees. If you are feeling stumped on what to say, check out these warm holiday greetings that you can send to your team.
1.) Herzlich willkommen bei Mustermann GmbH. Unsere Telefon-Hotline ist über die Festtage nicht besetzt. Genaue Öffnungszeiten erfahren sie auf unser Website unter www.mustermann.de - Wir bedanken uns für Ihr Vertrauen und wünschen Ihnen und Ihren Lieben erholsame Feiertage und ein gutes neues Jahr.
Something like, “I will not have access to email while I am out and will get back to you when I return. If your issue is urgent, please resend your email after X date,” would be… more polite, I guess.
One year my organization mistakenly left me off the phone directory. I made no attempt to correct that. The only people who could call me we’re those who knew my number; everyone else had to use email.
And that's it. Easy peasy, right? We know there are tons of genius out of office messages we missed, so if you've got a favorite don't forget to share it with us in the comments below!
It's a tip that Kate Leaver, Australian author of the newly published book The Friendship Cure: A Manifesto for Reconnecting in the Modern World, has long championed. “I usually just describe the most delicious thing I'll be eating while I'm away. I've been told it makes people very jealous, in a happy-for-me sort of way,” she says. A typical auto-response from her reads: “OOO: Busy eating my body weight in gelato. Gleefully, wifi isn’t great on windswept Italian beaches so I will likely not see your email for days.”
The one I’ve always wished I was brave enough to write was the one I once got which simply said:
Website: https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/setting-up-vacation-and-holiday-call-rules/
Website: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/temporary-voicemail-greeting-examples-2533547
When you’re out for the holidays, how can you express your thrill for the season without sounding, well, cheesy?