I once emailed someone I barely knew to check on some materials he was supposed to send my boss and I received an auto-reply letting the world know that he was away in Vegas with his “boyz” to celebrate his divorce. I still don’t know why he felt this was important to share with business contacts. “I’m away for the week” was all the information I needed.
You don’t have to inform people why you are out of the office, adds Gugino Panté. “Because of privacy or safety issues, you may not want to state that you are on vacation or at a conference,” she says. “Simply stating that you are out of the office should be sufficient enough.”
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By Angela Beale|2018-07-20T02:52:37+00:00December 5th, 2017|Categories: Blog|Tags: Holiday Tips, Office Safety|0 Comments Angie worked as a Certified Practising Accountant in England and Australia before moving into the Marketing and IT industries ( IBM, J D Edwards and Data #3) working alongside many of the top 100 companies in Australia.Angie applies her 26 years experience in Systems Development ( ERP systems) and Online Marketing to mentor small/mid businesses owners on attracting clients and growing their business through SMART marketing. Focussing on strategy, automation and systemisation. ALERT: Latest Google Chrome Update To Strictly Implement Site Security on July 2018 Hootsuite Now Lets Users Schedule Instagram Posts How Facebook Zero News Feed Update Affects Business Marketing
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Recent Posts 38 Account-Based Marketing Stats to Know in 2021 The Top Business Podcasts You Need to Be Listening To How Advertisers are Navigating iOS 14’s Mobile Tracking Changes How Google’s Head of Startups LATAM Helps Brands Globalize Their Business [+Tips for Marketers] 278 Social Media Holidays for Your 2021 Content Calendar [+Template]
An automatic response should include the date when you left, a reason (vacation, sick leave, a conference, etc) and, if possible, the date when you plan to come back. Thank your client for their email, promise to get back to it as soon as possible and apologize for the inconvenience. Also, it should be obvious that you’re out of office from the first sentence.
Give yourself some slack when promising people to keep up with their messages. If your vacation ends on January 18, but you know that you won’t be able to check up on old emails for the next couple of days, mention that in your reply.
Is it possible to turn off the “reply “urgent”” message so they can break through the DND?
Q. As an employee or faculty member, will I be able to use our on-campus recreation facilities during winter break?
Same. All you need to know is I am not available and you are not going to hear from me until such and such date and contact so and so if you need something sooner.
Me too. I don’t say why I’m going to be out when I take time off either, unless it’s a vacation I’m really excited about and just talk about naturally.
Goofy dad joke that doesn’t require changing with the calendar. “What do you call a cephalopod carved out of ice? COOLAMARI.” You’re set for at least three vacations on that one.
A Day in the Life of an Autoresponder. Digital marketing guru Ann Handley has become legendary for her humorous out of office responses. Getting an auto-reply is by definition impersonal, but Ann turns a cold response into a friendly conversation through some clever personification, while also promoting the event she’s attending.
I try to substitute “parental leave” for “maternity leave” whenever possible. Trying to normalize it as a benefit to all employees (at my company) rather than a special lady-vacation.
The following phrases will be very useful when you’re preparing your out-of-office message template. To say you will be absent I will be out of the office. I am not in the office. I am (currently) out of the office. I will be away from X to Y. To redirect the message Should the matter be important… If you require immediate assistance… For urgent queries… If you have an immediate need… …please email X. …please contact X. …please write to/call X.
Honestly, I like when people do this. I think it’s straightforward and it makes it clear that I still am in ownership of the problem (as opposed to wondering whether the other person has/will see it and what their timeline is).
I appreciate your message. I am out of the office currently with no office email access. However, return on the following [date-of-return].
There’s nothing awful or offensive about this message, but it’s also not very good. Yes, it provides the courtesy of letting the sender nominally know that you’re going to be slower than usual to respond. That’s nice. The problem is in this bit: “may be slow to respond to email.” Another popular variation: “might be slower than usual to respond.”