What is an example of an effective "out of office" message?

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

The "out of office" message can be effective in communicating how to reroute direction, but they can also be effective in spreading an idea.

What are some of your favorite OOO messages? I'm hoping we can "borrow" some of each other's when we take time away from work.

Here's one of my favorites from Bing Chen, who says "If this is urgent, take a deep breath because few things rarely are."

[Daniel Eads · Accepted solution]

I've also seen a variation of the "your message will be deleted" response @nina_schmidt posted. This is especially important for longer absences like a sabbatical or parental leave. If I'm out for only a week, it still takes me almost the entire first day back to weed through all the emails and notifications.

One addition I'd suggest to this is a "welcome back" page to let your teammates summarize things which are actually important to know about upon your return. This is a Confluence page in your personal space that everyone in the company can edit.

So your I'm-not-going-to-read-your-email response has a couple action items in addition to however gentle or gelastic your deletion warning is:

Dear valued $teammate,

Your message was received into the circular cyber siphon to /dev/null. Unfortunately I cannot commit to reading the estimated 2,184 emails I will receive by my return on $date.

Do not despair, there are actions you may take from here:

1. Copy your message to #my-team in Slack, as I'm part of a team and have really stellar teammates to assist you.
2. Contact $delegated-teammate for problems relating to my focus areas, if you believe that only I can answer this particular question. I do ask that you try the team channel from step #1 first, so that $delegated-teammate does not become a bottleneck either. You may be pleasantly surprised that my team is more than capable to handle 99.998% of potential questions.
3. If your message was important information that you believe I need to know my first day back from $universe-saving-activity then you may add it to my <Welcome Back page link> on Confluence. Please leave a very short summary of the thing in addition to the link where I can read more to help me get back up to speed ASAP.

In the meantime, if you missed me while you wait for my return on $date, here is a photo of me riding a nyancat during my first week of $universe-saving-activity which you may choose to print for your desk. It is encoded with h-gif parameters so you can print it on holographic paper if you desire.

Automatedly yours,
$you

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

YES! 1000 points for this detailed message sample, @Daniel Eads!

To your point on extended time away, knowing that a) work won't stop via diverted and named channels and b) helping the OOO person for their return is a win on both ends of that email.

It's a great reminder that OOO emails aren't just a note of being gone. They're a reminder on how to efficiently help teammates be informed.

[Anita Kalmane]

Love that example!

[Jenny Kim · Accepted solution]

I don't recommend this for everyone, but this out-of-office message made me lol.

I don't think you're going to read this message. If you do, reply with "what's my prize" and I'll prioritize your message upon my return.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Like the measurement easter egg in that message! 

Now I wonder how many people actually read my messages haha.

[Kristen Roth · Accepted solution]

I saw Bing's OOO message floating around on LinkedIn last week — so good! 

I think something important to make clear is that while you might be back in the office on a certain date, there's no guarantee you'll reply on the exact day you get back. I typically include something like "I'll get back to you as soon as I'm able after my return."

When we've been out for more than a couple of days, we usually have overflowing inboxes and dozens of Slack pings and threads to catch up on and digest and prioritize before we can start working on replying to everyone. Replies shouldn't always be expected on the day of return! 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Love that language suggestion, @Kristen Roth ! I think it's important we give not only the message recipient, but ourselves the reminder that we don't have to prioritize messages the day someone is back in the office.

I haven't done that before and I'm going to start using that. Thank you!

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

For me, the message needs to be very clear which as many details as necessary. 

First, state that you are out of the office and then add whether you are available at all via other methods such as Email or Slack or phone, etc. 

Then be clear when - date and time - you will be available again as normal. 

[Anne Saunders]

The only addition I would make is some kind of instruction about what to do if you can't be reached at all ("Please follow this link to create a service request in the portal"), or how to reach your backup ("If you need assistance right away, please call Becky at extension ####.")

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Yes!

@John Funk I like the OOO message that lists the context for someone being out--when to when they'll be out, if they're available via other communication platforms. 

And @Anne Saunders I agree that redirecting folks to either internal pages or a backup teammate is so helpful for the person receiving the message.

Because these messages aren't just a notice of being out; they're also signs that can help recipients on their journey towards whatever they're looking for. 

[Carlos Garcia Navarro · Accepted solution]

I like when the out of office messages delegate to others. Your team feels empowered and you don't become a bottleneck. People don't have to wait, and catching up after retuning from vacation is a less daunting task. 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

For sure. From the recipient side, keeping the flow of work going even while you're out is key.

[nina_schmidt · Accepted solution]

I recently saw something interesting.

“… every mail will be deleted, contact me if the topic is still important after my return…“

A bit disturbing but I’ll ask my colleague how it worked out. :-)

Important in an OOO is the contact who can be called instead and when you return. Everything else is just prosa for the one contacting you, perhaps I‘ll try the prize message too ;-)

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Ooh, definitely tell us how that message worked out for your colleague, @nina_schmidt! I also wonder if that works when OOO emails are sent to internal teammates vs if that message was sent to people from outside the company.

[Anne Saunders]

I believe with Outlook you can set different internal and external OOO messages. I haven't tried in any other platforms, but now I'm wondering!

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

GMail has it, too! But I usually don't customize my OOO messages that way and now I want to try it.

Have you used the internal vs external functionality, @Anne Saunders ?

[Anne Saunders]

100% Yes! In a past job, I was an instructional designer and taught some classes. The info my organization might need in my absence was very different (and less formal!) from the info a student from outside my organization might need. 

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Ohhh, that makes a lot of sense, @Anne Saunders! 

I was thinking the difference would be tone but that makes so much sense that there are different messages to direct those audiences with.

[Anita Kalmane]

I actually find 'every email will be deleted' quite rude and inconsiderate.

Just because YOU are out of office, why should I wait with my email (which you can read later)? Why should my To Do list increase with 'Send email to X on Y date?'.

[nina_schmidt]

I think my colleague is trying to say:

about 75% of those mails will be already solved or irrelevant until his return - you can sent it, but if it is still relevant you will for sure come back again anyways 

I understand your point by shifting the reminder to the sender he/ she has to track it - but don’t you track it anyways except it is a topic that is in the category of „just to inform you and no further to dos“? 

Returning to hundreds of mails and trying to find the priority is as we all know not easy - so why not schedule a short update with a (online) coffee after the return and providing these topics there?

[Darryl Lee · Accepted solution]

My template usually consists of the following parts:

1. The period I will be OOO.

2. When I will be back at work officially.

3. Where are the communications should be forwarded to during my absence.

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Same with me!

[Deleted user · Accepted solution]

I use a traditional OOO message with a little thing of joke:

"I'm currently not working, I needed a rest to be better later, with more positivity and more laughs with me. Don't steal my jokes, it will be known quickly. See you soon!"

[Mayur Jadhav · Accepted solution]

I usually follow the regular template like,

1. The reason of OOO,

2. Date or Duration of OOO.

3. And My Manager's email or Support portal URL.

[Fabio Racobaldo _Herzum_ · Accepted solution]

That message makes me laugh a lot. Btw, in order to be serious, the best way to communicate with customers your absence, you should :

• Communicate absence period
• Provide a portal link in order to provide a link to the team and make customer sure that is not alone

Fabio

[Christine P. Dela Rosa]

Yeah, I found it funny, too!

And making sure a customer doesn't feel alone is a great north star on how to tailor your message for them. Like a few others helped me realize in this thread, the OOO message isn't just a message to explain your situation; it's a message to also help those who receive it move on their way.

[Deepak Rai]

I think simple statement is enough to inform our peers and stockholders that we are on OOO. 

[Ammar Ahmed Butt]

"OOO" Seems like a cool way to describe Out of Office situation. Will definitely give it a try!