'I’m away from my desk at the moment but will respond the moment they give me a desk' (Credit: Getty Images)
Although out of office emails are usually used when a person’s on holiday, they can also be used in a number of other circumstances.
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Usually, people take leave for vacation, business traveling, maternity leave, or sickness. Additionally, sometimes employees who will no longer work in a company also need to provide an out-of-office message for their customers, especially if they are in a high-level management position working closely with those customers.
Is this heaven? No, it’s Iowa. That’s where I’ll be for the next couple of days, giving my last out of town keynote of the year (yay!). I don’t know if there really is a Field of Dreams, but I’ll be in search of it in between checking emails and getting back to you as quickly as I can. If you need something while I’m stuck in a corn field, you can send a note to my assistant and she will be happy to help you.
“Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and will have no access to email. I will respond to your emails when I return on [date], but it may take me one to two days to sift through the messages. I appreciate your patience while I’m out. If you require immediate attention, please contact [name].”
Thanks for your email. I am on leave on 4th January 2021. I will revert to you once I’m back to work on 5th January 2021.
Yeah, that bugs me because a) now I don’t know when you actually will be back, and b) leaves me unsure what other information in the message may also out of date
The date range you're gone but more importantly . . . The day you will respond. (Pro tip: If you seriously get a ginormous volume of emails when you're away, or you're going to be gone for an extended amount of time, make sure this date is one or two days AFTER you're back from your vacation. Under promise, over deliver, do your laundry.) Alternate contact if there is an emergency. Your phone number (if you absolutely must, but I don't endorse this).
Gift futureofworking.com https://futureofworking.com/25-out-of-the-office-message-examples-for-holidays/ · This list of 25 out of office message examples for holidays are perfect to use for your autoresponder. ----- Hello, Thanks for your email. I'm currently out of the office, returning on [date]. I'll respond to your message then. While I won't be quite as far as the North Pole, I will still be completely disconnected from my inbox until my return.
7.) Bienvenue dans le bureau de John Doe. Désolé, nous ne sommes actuellement pas en mesure de répondre à votre appel étant donné que vous appelez pendant les vacances annuelles. Sentez-vous libres de nous envoyer un email sur [email protected] – Nous vous contacterons dès que possible à notre retour. En cas d’urgences, contactez notre représentant de bureau. Ils peuvent être contactez sur notre site www.lawoffice-johndoe.de. Merci beaucoup pour votre appel – Au revoir.
The best way to spread Holiday cheer, is screaming “Out of the Office” for all to hear…
Help your users know when to expect a response. It’s easy to show customers your team’s availability and let them know when they can get assistance from your team. You can manage their expectations by setting your office hours and expected response time.
My pet peeve is OOOs for the afternoon/an appointment when the person who set it up is NOT good at responding to emails in a timely fashion. If someone usually requires multiple reminders and follow up emails for me to get a reply to an email after 2 weeks, I don’t really need a notification that their responses will be delayed an hour until they get back from the doctor. It makes me think “who are you responding to that quickly, and why can’t you reply to me that fast??”
This is so funny to be because I would chuckle getting those! You have personal context which is how you know that there is an aggeressive/accusatory tone….but without that context I would interpret these as boundaried and light-hearted. (With the exception of the ‘momtears’ one, that would feel overly personal to me.)
Thank them for their email. 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."
Amanda works at HubSpot, and she came with a unique auto respondent that asked her contacts to guess where she is. To give background, she flew down to Boston to attend a Red Sox training game in the spring with her father. She chose to ask her contacts whether where they think she might be, and also this played some wonderful use of litotes here:
Thank you for your message. I am out of the office from May 1-6 with limited email access. If you need immediate assistance, please contact my assistant editor, Alex Jordan, at [email protected] or 555-432-6100. Otherwise, I will respond to messages upon my return.