I was recently on the receiving end of a very perplexing out of office message. It simply said, “I am currently out of the office.” No indication of when they would be back or who to contact in the meantime. Fortunately in my case this was someone I cc’ed on an email as an FYI and did not need any response from, but still–who does that? IMO a good out of office message says how long you’re out and who to contact in the interim if things can’t wait, no more and no less.
Rather than a number of days or vague phrasing like “this week,” giving exact dates helps prevent confusion and lets senders know when they can expect a response from you.
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The one from “Central Intelligence” with the Rock that I love is is (paraphrasing) :
9. Office Closed for Christmas. Use this template for Christmas holidays. Hi (specify the Name field id), Our office will remain closed for Christmas. We assure you that all your emails will be answered as soon as we return to the office.
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?
I have a couple people that I work with though who set them for outside their normal work hours, like they automatically kick on at 4:30pm and off at 8am or whatever, and then there’s the one special snowflake who sets her out of office not only when she leaves for the day every day, but also when she takes her half hour lunch or her fifteen minute break, Jesus wept.
Optionally, complete the fields in the Usage Conditions section. Click here for a description of each field. You can use these fields to tell eDesk to auto-respond with this template only for tickets that match these fields, e.g., tickets for a particular marketplace.
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/seven-examples-professional-out-office-autoresponder-email-ramadoss
You are under no obligation to share the reason for your absence. Even if you’re on parental leave, “on leave” or “out of the office” is sufficient. Unfortunately, discrimination against pregnant people and parents happens, and if you don’t want to disclose that you’re on parental leave, you don’t have to.
That sounds like she’s using an auto-responder, not an Out of Office. The primary difference, as far as I can tell, is that an auto-response will respond to every email, whereas the OOO message will only reply once per sender when it’s turned on. (Turning it off and then back on resets it)
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Website: https://www.garamgroup.com/tips-after-hours-business-voicemail-auto-attendant-greetings/
Happy Holidays and thank you for your email! I’m currently out of the office and will return on [insert date].
Huh. This is a rare column from you that I disagree with almost entirely. I guess to start with what I think you get right, there's no need to apologize for being out of office, and no one should feel obligated to deal with anything other than a legitimate emergency (which are, in most fields, truly rare) while on vacation or while taking time off.
I will return with a glowing tan on [insert date] and respond promptly to all emails. If your request is time sensitive, please email [insert name] at [insert email].
The holiday benefit is available to U.S. regular, full-time staff members. Staff members whose employment terms are for four months or less are not regular full-time staff members.
Q. Will Supply Chain, Purchasing, Receiving, Mail Services and other such departments be open during winter break?