We’ve certainly come a long way since the honeymoon days of You’ve Got Mail, the 1998 Meg Ryan romcom in which each new electronic missive set Tom Hanks’ heart fluttering (and vice versa). These days, in tech circles, you’ll hear tales of folk who’ve set their email servers up to automatically delete unread emails after a week – before going on holiday for a full fortnight. Others have reduced the OOO to a single word in the subject line: “Nope.”
I’ve started going really, really simple on OOO messages – literally just “I’ll be out of the office until ___, please contact ___ for questions about ____”
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Oh, that’s maddening. I just checked Outlook, and it doesn’t look like you can set up a rule not to send OOO replies to a particular person, but you can reply with a template. I wonder if sending just your boss a message that says “Hi boss, this is an automated reply that I set up a rule to send. I’m really out of the office and I really didn’t see this message. See you when I get back on Monday!” or whatever. Probably won’t help, but might be fun.
Ahoy there! I'm currently getting my sea legs as I set sail on a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea! If you have any enquiries in my absence, you can contact the crew at Thrive by emailing Sarah at [email protected] or calling the office on 01325 778 786.
Yes, with all the holiday planning of feasts and gifts and decorations, there is also the important task of drafting your holiday auto-responder text. You need to let your colleagues and clients know that you’ll be away from your desk celebrating the spirit of the season (and not reading their emails!).
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.
Finally, if leaving a private mobile phone feels like revealing too much, you can instruct your customers to contact you via email with the “URGENT” referenced in its subject:
You just have to be very certain of your audience if you’re going to use an email with humor. It has to be the right tone, and it has to be right for your business and your clientele.
I think that’s on the person who covered for you –presumably they are in your department. If I take care of a client for Fergus while he’s out, I let him know the problem that came in, solution, and any still pending information. Emailer emails Vickie. May not just forward the message that they sent to or received from me. Vickie gets these kinds of questions every day, doesn’t know it has anything to do with me, just answers the question. I get back, see the message, and may not realize Vickie has already handled it. That’s not Vickie’s fault. I think ENFP in Texas has it right above – before starting the work, you can ask the sender if they still need this.
5. 5 The Friendly Professional. Season’s Greetings! Thanks for getting in touch. I’m out of the office enjoying the holidays until [date]. I’ll respond as quickly as I can when the festivities are over and I’m back at my desk.
During the holidays, you may also want to send holiday greetings to colleagues who are on the same team as you. In this situation, your message can be more casual and include inside jokes, depending on how close you are to your coworkers. Take a look at these holiday messages to colleagues.
Lastly, don’t forget to set your out-of-office greeting for your office and mobile phones while you’re out.
It all boils down to honestly assessing your situation, deciding what degree of contact is appropriate, and then stating your intention clearly and succinctly.
I had a colleague that managed to set up a rule for an OOO that would only get sent if you cc’d or bcc’d him, which basically said that all those cc mails would get automatically put in a separate folder and he may or may not ever read them – may the odds be ever in your favor basically.
Your out of office message can link to testimonials from your happy clients. For those of us in travel, you could try something like:
Purchasing and receiving for The University of Toledo Medical Center and clinics will run operations as usual during winter break, with no interruption to service.
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