I agree. I think this one is way too long and comes off as trying to be too cute.
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So what makes a good automated response that will give you the reassurance you need to keep your work email under control so that you can truly enjoy your holiday?
Download good wishes messages for a friend who is going away : – “One of your greatest dreams was always traveling and now you can make it happen. I can only say I wish you all the best and that everything goes as you expect.
This makes a lot of sense to me, since surely in the 3-4 months people tend take as leave in the US, your issue would have been resolved. Also for parental leave, most people delegate ongoing projects to some specific person, so anything that’s still going to be going on months from now when you return is getting handled by someone else.
The tone of your out-of-office auto-reply may vary depending on the intended recipient of your email.
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I had a coworker whose former employer required them to update their voicemail message every day. “Hello, you’ve reached MaryMary. Today is Thursday, June 3rd. I am in the office all day but may be away from my desk for meetings. Please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible.” She got in the habit and still updated her VM everyday. Occasionally I run into someone elsewhere in our industry with a daily VM message and know they used to work at the same place.
Exactly! This may be the type of person who hears a phrase that sounds polite when referring to another, but mangles it and uses it to refer to themself so it becomes the opposite of polite.
Top of the iceberg though. Oh, and she also works with external contacts, including prospective clients.
That’s my practice, too, though I only use it for times I’ll be out for a day or more. Some of the work I do and support can be very time sensitive and it’s really the most efficient use of *everyone’s* time if I spend two minutes before I leave setting up OOO so that they are quickly directed to the right person instead of having to go check my calendar, see I’m out for a week, try to remember who it is that’s my backup, etc.
Hello, I’m out of the office until [DATE]. However, I will be taking periodic breaks from binge-watching everything I’ve missed to check my email [once per day/every evening/occasionally] while I’m away. If this matter isn’t time-sensitive, rest assured that I’ll respond when I’m back in the office. But, if this is an urgent request, please resend any messages that require my immediate attention with a subject line of “URGENT: [Original Subject]”. All the best.
Supervisors with employees who work during winter break should track hours using the Winter Break Hours Tracking spreadsheet. Please follow the instructions provided and contact your Human Resources consultant with any questions.
I have a coworker who has an “always-on” autoreply stating that she “is busy with client meetings during the day” and therefore only checks emails at 9am and 3pm. I understand wanting to set the expectation that people won’t get an immediate response, but it really baffles me. If you are still able to respond within 24 hours, why does anyone need this information? To me it feels like some weird self-help tip or power move that they read somewhere that serves no actual function.
Again, be as specific as possible and provide as much detail as possible on how they can get their questions answered or problems resolved. This will ensure you come back to fewer fires and headaches.
A thing my employer does is when someone leaves, they just shutoff the email. So someone goes to the trouble of writing an out of office explaining that they have retired or accepted a job somewhere else and where someone can go for help and IT just nukes the email address 24 hours after the person leaves. Then whomever was contacting them has no idea where to turn next. It is a terrible policy.
So I thought I had a solution, but when I tested, I realized I don’t have access to my phone at all unless I turn off DND. UGH! Defeats the purpose. Is till want access to my maps, apps, safari and social media while on vacation.