According to The Washington Post’s self-reported survey of more than 1,000 white-collar workers, “we spend an average of 4.1 hours checking our work email each day.” That’s over 1,000 hours each year. The holidays are the perfect time to temporarily break up with your email inbox for a digital detox. Before you stress about crafting the perfect out of the office message, check out our sample templates. From professionally festive to holiday humor, we know you’ll be ready to copy, paste, and fully embrace the holiday season.
If you’re at a work event (e.g. a conference)If you’re off sickIf you’re working from a different location
.
Sample Vacation Voicemail Greeting: Hi, you've reached [your name]. I'm away from [date] to [date]. If you need help with [X] before then, please contact [name] at [phone number]. Sample Holiday Voicemail Greeting: Hello, you've reached [your name, the office of X company]. The team is currently out of the office, but we'll be back on [date
12 Examples of Professional Out of Office Emails – Permanent and Temporary Autoresponses
Of course, if you’re expecting something (or someone) urgent to pop into your inbox, send them a separate note with your personal email or phone number. Alternatively, you can also just make sure whoever your go-to contact is has that information in case you do need to be reached. Once you handle that, you can do what your out-of-office says you’re doing and actually spend the day recharging.
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!”
Research shows that vacations are beneficial to our physical and mental health, work performance, and productivity. To replicate this research, I’m conducting a participant observation study until DATE, and will be out of the office. In the interim, if you have an urgent request, please reach out to EMPLOYEE. Otherwise, I’ll be in touch upon my return.
Very true, if the options came in reverse order (or maybe emergency first followed by not-urgent followed by urgent) that would be a little better.
Which to my mind lets people know when I’m back and that I will get back to them after that date, as well as who to contact for more urgent stuff. But every time, Wakeen gets teapot questions because people apparently can’t be bothered to finish reading and they both get questions on stuff that is not due for weeks after I return.
Use the time away with no employees working to restart equipment such as computers, laptops, etc. Restarts are necessary to keep updates installed and the machines running smoothly.
It’s so much easier for everyone to have an OoO that says “I’m gone- please contact PaperClipSortingTeam ‘at’ spacelyspacesprockets for help while I’m out.
Thanks for your message! I’m currently buried in snow and will get back to you once I’ve defrosted on January 2nd.
Depends on the system. Our Outlook is set up so that if you’ve got someone with an OOO in the “To” field, a note shows up saying that they are sending automated messages, and you can see the message. Convenient, since then I can add the person covering their stuff to the email without sending a second email.
It’s my favorite time of year, which means I’m currently out of the office chugging mugs of choco, stuffing my face with fruit salads and cakes, and attempting to fulfill my lifelong goal of memorizing every single line of [your favorite holiday movie].
Let’s be real, the majority of the thousands of emails you return to after being O.O.O. will be spam and salesy marketing drivel – any legitimately important emails will probably get lost! Unless you’re Barack Obama, just send it when they’re back.
You can clarify that there’s a possibility that you’ll see the email before the return date, but you can’t guarantee it.
Company profile Career Staff members Philosophy Sponsoring Complaint Procedure Site Map Legal Notice Data Privacy Statement Terms & Conditions Conflict Minerals Policy Contact