What do you avoid in an out-of-office message?
The best out-of-office messages incorporate the “do” elements covered in the section above, but a strong OOO message also steers clear of the “don’t” elements below.
Don’t try to be funny, and don’t brag. Resist making jokes in your out-of-office message. Attempts at humor can easily be misinterpreted and fall flat with the wrong audience (for example: your boss). Also, don’t imply in the message that you’re happy to be out of the office or flaunt the fact that you’re going somewhere fun (while your coworkers aren’t). Boring as it may be, the best approach is to keep your out-of-office message clear, simple and most of all, professional.
Don’t commit a colleague to giving immediate help. You can’t predict how quickly your coworkers will be able to respond to emails in your absence, so make sure you don’t promise their immediate assistance. On that note, ask your colleagues for permission before you provide their email addresses and phone numbers in your out-of-office message; they might have a big project coming up that will make them too busy to serve as your stand-in.
Don’t tell people you’ll respond as soon as you return. You’ll have plenty of work to catch up on the day you get back, so avoid saying you’ll return emails in a particular time frame. You don’t want to make a promise you might have to break.
Get ideas from these out-of-office message examples
So, what does a well-composed out-of-office message look like? Here are some sample templates for effective automatic responses to those inside and outside your company:
“Thanks for your email. I’ll be out of the office Aug. 8-12. If you need assistance while I’m away, please contact Sheila Jones at [email and phone number] for marketing questions or Chad Miller at [email and phone number] for accounting questions.”
“I will be on vacation July 23-30 and returning to work July 31. For urgent matters, you can contact my colleague, Marilyn Morales, at [email and phone number].”
“Thank you for your email. I am out of the office at this time, and I am not checking email. I will not return until Aug. 26. If this is an urgent matter, please contact Jim Ricci at [email and phone number]. Otherwise, I will respond to your email as soon as possible after my return.”