Most ooo's are written not considering the sender's (that valuable customer) perspective. Because of that receiving such an ooo feels as if the person only cares about his vacation and not at all about the problem or question stated in the email.
I try to be understandable in my ooo and focus on the sender instead of myself.
So my ooo looks like this:
"Thank you for your message. Unfortunately I am currently not in the office and will not be able to respond to your message immediately.
I will return Wednesday September 12.
If I see you need a response before then, I’ll be sure to get in touch!
For other urgent matters, please get in touch with ..."
Classic college campus attitude: Tell a caller to call you back later because there is no way you will return the call when you get back from vacation. (I'm pretty sure that is not what the etiquette trainer had in mind when he or she suggested that you should tell the truth.) That approach may work in the ivory tower of a university. But that nonsense doesn't fly in the real world where there are things like accountability and consequences.
1
People who post out of office notices should be aware of the security risks in doing so. The more accurate info provided, the more data is provided to allow a bad actor to social engineer people in your network. Never understood the value of “out of the office” automatic notice. Most of us can’t respond to all our emails in the inbox when we are at work, but few auto-reply “I am in the office, working on an important project which requires my attention and probably won’t respond to you for 2 days”.
Incredible to think you’re that important that you have to answer an email when not at work. Here’s mine, “on vacation, will respond to emails when I️ get back on [xx/xx/xx].”
I️ had the unfortunate situation where someone decided to contact me about work on my personal email when I️ was on work. I️ simply replied, “on vacation, leave me alone.”
Time on vacation or off the clock should be simply that. Unless you’re the CEO or something like an on-call physician, there is almost never a need to reply.
1
Auto-reply is a bad idea:
A) Spammers receive a “true positive” confirming that the email address hey spammed is correct;
B) if urgent, would a business relationship be stymied? Presumably, one would have notified a significant coworker/counterparty with an email beforehand.
However, if urgent....
C) How many of us DON’T check emails while away, even occasionally? The “auto reply” is a Pre-Blackberry, Post-Microsoft anachronism.
Anyone who does not own a mobile device almost certainly does not need to inform the world that they are away; unless of course, that is the purpose.
Or perhaps the author is needing a by line.
Sorry but save for one or two all of those auto replies are snarky and self important. I’m in sales and would never write anything like that. No one cares about your vacation. All that’s necessary is to say “Thanks for your email. I’m out of the office/unavailable until xxxx. If you need immediate assistance please contact xxxxx”
If it’s just your personal email you don’t need the second sentence.
5
The worst thing about an out-of-office auto-reply is that you are telling everyone that your home is empty and probably unguarded. Everyone.
The most important thing to do here is to tell the people you work with that you're leaving a week or so beforehand. It puts the onus on them to inform you about things before you leave rather than on you to deal with them once you're gone.
Here is what I did when I received my final discharge papers from the Navy after serving 4 years on active duty during Vietnam. I signed the acknowledgment form and sent it back with this note: "Please send all correspondence to my correct address." I left that space blank.
—So now instead of writing, “I will respond when I return to the office,” which is so unlikely as to be untrue, I write, “Please contact me again when I return.”—
Honestly, that is just rude and unprofessional. You are a professor. This is a work email. The messages are from students who pay tuition. From colleagues who count on you.
Why is it up to others to keep track of your comings and goings? Is it that hard to go through your emails and catch up? Isn’t that part of your job? This is a big part of what gives higher ed a bad name.
8
The date you'll be back, and nothing else, is perfect. No one reads this garbage anymore. Trying to be funny or impressive is just pathetic.
2
I generally use:
"If you’re reading this, Doc Brown was unable to make lightning strike the clock tower, and I’m stuck in 1985. I won’t be able to respond to emails or voicemail until on , or until email is invented -- whatever comes first."
Alternately, I use:
"I am away from the office at this moment. I will still be away from the office at the next moment and returning at a later moment.
"If you have any issues at the current moment, and they cannot wait until a later moment, please contact #####, who may actually be there at the moment."
1
Beautiful- very useful info!!
No one cares why you're out of the office. Don't be cute. Just keep it short and sweet.
2
Anita, Hemingway once wrote that you should always do sober what you promise drunk, because that will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
I once worked with a gentleman who, because of seniority and the fact that he never took vacation, had maxed out his carry-over weeks. Thus, rather than loose the current year's accrual, in November he would set his out-of-office reply to, "I seem to have run out of working days for the year. I'll be back in the office on January (whatever)."
Here's mine vacation message:
"Greetings,
Thank you for writing. I will be out of email contact until . . . I will respond to your message when I return.
If this is an emergency, keep in mind that in around 6 billion years the Sun will have used up most of its nuclear fuel, throwing it out of equilibrium and initiating a series of events that will result in it becoming a red giant and ultimately expanding in size beyond Earth's orbit, swallowing up our planet and turning Earth into a desiccated, lifeless cinder.
This should help keep things in perspective."
I had to update it when they pushed back the time it will take for the Sun to use up its nuclear fuel. We all gained a good billion years of so.
1
"Gone fishing." I'm a fundraising professional, so the double entendre is simply perfect.
With all the automation and artificial intelligence being introduced into email, we are not too far from the time where my AI assistant will let your AI assistant know that I am unavailable. I'm sure the pithy one liners that these robots will come up with will be just as drool as most currently acceptable workplace humor.