But what should you do to keep the message informative, engaged and maybe a little festive?
That makes sense. I normally say “Hi, I am out of the office on DATES. If you need to reach someone…….” or whatever.
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If you depend on iCloud emails, you can set the vacation response right from your iCloud Email Settings. Log in to www.icloud.com and select the Mail. Once you open the mail app on the browser, click on the Settings icon from the left bottom of the sidebar.
I had a boss that required OOO messages anytime you left the office. A single sick day, leaving four hours early, coming in two hours late, etc. This at an org that didn’t require quick email responses, and at which people typically only put up OOOs for multiple days out.
Remember that it’s important to choose the tone of your message based on the final recipient.
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Calls/SMS Auto Reply app lets you add customized out of office messages that it sends automatically in response to missed calls and texts so that your clients or co-workers know what they can expect. A prompt auto-response is a great way to save relationships and trust and retain customers. You can use these messages to tell them when you will respond and what they should do in case they need urgent assistance.
Here’s my OOO nightmare: when I was a graduate intern a few years ago, there was a volunteer with severe, marginally treated mental health concerns. Her behavior toward me was inappropriate to the point that my school assisted me with a safety plan. I obviously blocked her on everything I could think of. Unfortunately while I was on winter break she emailed my agency address from an account no one knew about, got my OOO message, assumed it meant I was open to communicating again, and proceeded to have a monthlong meltdown in my inbox when I didn’t respond. To this day I am grateful for my city’s utter lack of public transit, which prevented her from trying to find my home and family.
As long as you’ve covered the basics—dates of your absence and who to contact in your absence—you should be good to go.
I pretty consistently just do “Greetings, I will be out of office from (date) to (date) with (limited/no) access to email. If you need assistance, please contact (boss) at (email address) – otherwise, I will follow up with you upon my return. Thanks!”
I say “I am out of the office without access to email” to avoid the expectation that I’ll check on vacation. With a contact for anything urgent given.
Feel free to stop by at [location], where I will be speaking about [topic]. Here’s a link to
“some things are MORE important than work” definitely comes off as aggressive to me. “How DARE you email me when I’m doing something MORE IMPORTANT, and for that matter why aren’t YOU spending time with YOUR family?!”
End your out-of-office response with a way your callers and emailers can stay connected on social media, if you use it for work. This is especially helpful if you keep active social media accounts (like Facebook or Snapchat) and expect calls from leads who may need some nurturing.
Leave some lights on for safety, but turn off any unnecessary ones before leaving. Test that all main doors are locked, as well as any server or file rooms holding sensitive equipment or information.
I usually go with “Hickory, dickory, dock, I’m off the clock. When the clock strikes Tuesday, I’ll be back.”
I mean, this is what I pretty much did upon returning from my maternity leaves but I would never put it into an email! My maternity leave OOO was the vague “I am on extended leave and am not anticipated to return until X. Please contact Joe or Fergus in my absence.” X being a vague time-frame based on my due date and the length of my leave. No one is waiting 3+ months for an answer so I did get to delete most of the 500 emails I got during my most recent leave! I did once have someone internal tell me I should say maternity leave rather than leave, but really, what does it matter? I’m gone for a few months and no one outside of the company really NEEDS to know why.