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.
It’s wise to check they aren’t though. A colleague once had an out of office from an academic that simply said ‘on fieldwork’. Just those two words.
.
Did you email me about [SERVICE]? Great! Read what our customers are saying about how awesome their experience has been. [LINK TO TESTIMONIALS]. Best Regards.
When I worked in a federally-regulated industry that required drug testing, we always tended to say “our drug program” when we should have been saying, “drug abatement program.”
10. "Hello, you've reached [X company]. We can't take your call right now, but please leave your name, contact information, and reason for reaching out, and one of our team members will be in touch within 24 hours."
A. Nearly all offices will be closed on Main Campus during winter break; therefore, each department should ensure their telephone messages and out-of-office email replies reflect that their office is closed but resuming normal business hours after New Year's Day. They may also want to note their winter break closure on their webpage.
It’s great to hear from you. I’m currently out of the office until mm/dd with limited/ no access to my email. Anyway, feel free to contact [email] in case your request is urgent.
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.
Thank you for your email. I am out of the office in observance of [holiday] with limited access to email and will return on [date]. Your message is very important to me, and I will respond as soon as possible. If you need immediate access, please contact [number].
Remember to change the dates, and double-check to make sure they’re correct if you’re resuming the same message you used the last time.
Others like to take the opportunity to inject a little personality and make the reader smile, like our very own Rachael’s summertime out-of-office:
But perhaps we have it all wrong, and are simply enslaving ourselves further to technology by toiling over OOOs that are personality-packed, marketing-friendly perfection. Maybe we need to be altogether more standoffish if we want to make our OOOs really work for us? NYU Professor Meredith Broussard, who’s the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World, takes the inspiration for her OOO from US writer, poet and children’s author E.B. White, who once turned down an invitation from President Eisenhower with the words “I must decline, for secret reasons”. Accordingly, Broussard’s OOO reads simply: “I am out of the office, for secret reasons.”
Feel free to share some examples of auto-reply messages that you have used or such that you’ve received. Include those in the comments below, and we can have a chat.
I can see how they would annoy given her character at work though. There is something especially cruel about advocating for your boundaries while disrespecting other peoples.
German vehicle-maker Daimler has an innovative approach to holiday email, which many people about to return from holiday may well wish their company would copy, writes William Kremer.
I think humor is fine (the hard-to-misunderstand kind), but definitely less than 100 words of it. “I’m out of the office returning Thursday June 10th. Please contact (shared mailbox email address) for support or call (person name) if the matter is urgent.”
But you can do better than that. Surprisingly, you can get so much more out of such a simple letter. A good out-of-office can serve as a tool to generate leads, promote content, and help you stand out by showing off some creativity.