I’d probably say something like “I am unavailable until X date. Please contact [colleague] or [colleague] if you need assistance. Thanks!”
To ensure your out-of-office email is thoughtful and useful, we’ve compiled all the important information and three handy (copy-and-paste ready!) out-office-email examples.
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Do you know what we’re doing too much of? We’re working too much, and we think too seriously about ourselves while doing it. That’s why including a joke or something fun in your out of office message could be so powerful.
An out of office message is basically a quality of life feature both for you and your business contacts. By warning your clients that you won’t be able to reply to their message right away you save the time they might have wasted on follow ups. You also won’t lose prospects who might’ve believed that you’re ignoring their request otherwise.
Some of the people I know that have a lot on their plate are able to deal with a large volume of email with intent and integrity. It’s worth taking a look at how they deal with email so you can model some of their habits. I’ve listed three people below who I know handle their email really well.
For specific assistance, I’ll be responding to emails on [date]. If you need something resolved urgently, please contact [Contact Name] at [contact email].
Need inspiration? Here are five out-of-office message examples from the career development site guaranteed to spread holiday cheer professionally:
The use of humans is weirdly condescending to me, like people who say ‘doggo’ sincerely. It seems incredibly off at work.
“Hi, I’m Troy McClure!” We’re not sure who wrote the original Troy McClure out of office message, but this version by Paul Sokol of Infusionsoft is a real gem.
We had to do this at my prior position so that agents knew that we were in the office that specific day. Now i dont even use my phone as most internal people call me on Teams.
The announcement of holidays to the employees should be done in a professional and formal way. One way to do this is to write a memo and send to all the employees to inform them about the upcoming holidays and closing of the office. The other way is to write the letter and send it to each employee individually.
I feel this so hard! I am 14 days away from my PCS (permanent change of station), and will be on leave for a month. I’ve been drafting my OOO multiple times, not just out of a desire to edit but because it reminds me that I am LEAVING my current terrible office.
Thank you for your email. I’m currently out of the office until [date] to celebrate the holiday with my loved ones. I won’t have my phone with me all the time.
Usually, you have the option ready, and all you have to do is go to your email settings. Once you are there, you will see something like Automatic Replies, or even Out of office AutoReply, as it is with Gmail:
This isn’t about an off-key OOO message, but one where a rogue OOO message drove our department insane for a day and a half.
In my office, most of the phone lines just didn’t even have voicemail, because we already got enough abuse in regular phone calls (university parking office). When we switched to VOIP, that went away, but at least now they get *badly* transcribed into our email boxes…
One-third of employees share information about business travel, including pictures, on social media, Tessian found. Many will also have advance leave notification in email signatures or add details about their time off in their OOO responses, such as when they plan to return to work or the details of the conference they are attending. This might appear safe because this isn’t personal travel. After all, it is a work trip, and an out of office message is no big deal.