What does your work email OOO say?

[YawnyMcdawny]

If you have a job that requires you to put an email Out Of Office reply on, what do you put?

I recently put something like 'I am on annual leave with no access to my emails and will respond when I return on date. If query is urgent please contact person x'

Some of my colleagues write 'leave me a message on my mobile and I will respond'.

I'm thinking it's annual leave and I am on holiday. The world won't fall apart if I don't answer, and neither will my colleagues btw.

Our general manager works whilst she's on holiday, replies to emails and messages very quickly within a few hours usually. it doesn't set a great example for the rest of the company who actually want to switch off. She gets a bit sarky if someone puts a proper ooo message and then doesn't actually check their emails whilst they are off.

AIBU to think I should be able to take time off without having to work?

what do you put as your ooo and do you respond to emails whilst away? If so why? If you're being honest, what would happen if you delegated your work to someone else?

Obviously if you run your own business or are self employed I know this will sit differently! I'm talking about being employed by a company where you get paid holidays.

I'm senior in my job (in the NHS) but would only take queries from my direct team during a holiday - so I don't want clients contacting me, but if a colleague is stuck and needs help then I would help.

I let my direct team know if it is a holiday I can be contacted (e.g. if at home because of childcare) or can't be (when in a big overseas holiday or camping with no WiFi).

Totally agree.

I had a boss who couldn't let go at all and would get involved in group emails etc while she was on holiday, and it felt like she didn't trust us to keep things ticking along in her absence, nor her deputies to make decisions.

She was really bad for micromanaging everyone as it was, and it didn't help morale, plus made people worry about their own time off.

My head of department has just gone on holiday for 6 weeks (loyalty leave after 30 years!) - he said for anything truly urgent to leave a message on his mobile, but truly urgent only means the office exploding or the whole team being sued. He's probably paid £150k+ per year, and no one in the whole company has expressed any problems with him taking that much time off and being properly out of contact.

If you don't have people who can be trusted to step in to cover, how does an organisation cope if someone suddenly gets seriously ill or quits without warning?

Oh I'm terrible for working during my annual leave - I work on a lot of time sensitive projects so often have to check emails and stuff, even if I'm supposed to be off. My OOO goes along the lines of:

"I am on AL until <date>, with limited access to emails. If you require a time sensitive response from me, please send me a message on Whatsapp."

Me too - if my line manager noticed me logged in when I was on leave, I’d instantly get a message telling me to go away & not come back until I was back at work.

Senior ish NHS. No contact during leave.

We are required to put contact info for someone who can help them while I’m off.

Mine said “I have now left this job. Please contact my successor.”

I understand different people different perspectives.
My perspective is, if I can help and the company needs me, then I'll do my best to help, holiday or not.
Besides in the security services, is there ever such a thing as a "true holiday"

My personal name work email states - I'm away/on annual leave until xx. As no-one can access my email in my absence please use (generic work email) now and for future correspondence.

I am currently out of the office & due to return on Xx for any urgent matters please contact xxxx

I never check my mails when I am off, my manager does & she regularly calls/texts people when they are on leave (holidays/sick/weekends/evenings etc). I stopped responding to her when I have been on leave and she has eventually stopped doing it to me but she still does it to other people.

If it was genuinely important/one off fine but it's tedious little things so annoying.

Mine says

"Thanks for your enquiry. I am out of the office until Xx/Xx/Xx
For any urgent enquiries, please contact the office on. XXXXX XXXXXX All other emails will be dealt with on my return"

(apart from right now where it says we're on annual two week shut down and nobody will reply to anything until the 21st!! 😁)

Mine says I’m away, when I’ll be back and who to contact instead. It should be obvious that if I’m on leave they won’t get an answer.

Saying that, I’ve just emailed my boss’s PA about a document I need, her OOO is on until tomorrow, I sent it today so I don’t forget tomorrow.

I felt really guilty when she replied saying that she would look tomorrow as was making a roast dinner 😧

I did think about doing a delayed send but if you’re off you shouldn’t be looking at emails.

I know I do on a single day off but not when I’m on holiday!

I'm self employed so I say I'm on leave and won't be picking up emails regularly but leave a mobile for very urgent queries, and ask them to text or WhatsApp not call. I've only actually been disturbed once and I was grateful as it was a big issue.

We have specific wording mandated by the company. "Annual leave" is not to be used. We are to be "out of the office".

I'm a teacher now so it just says school is closed for the holidays but to contact the school office email for any enquiries as the SBM works during the holidays.
When I was director of finance I would say I'm unavailable until X date and to contact one of my colleagues.

If I am ever able to retire, I'm going to have "I am out of the office forever".

Mine is similar to yours! “I am away from work until X, without access to my emails. If your query is urgent please contact y on z email / phone number.” If there was a particular project where the contact was different I might put that in too.

Definitely not going to be giving people my personal mobile to call on my OOO. My immediate colleagues have it anyway, but defo wouldn’t be calling it unless an absolutely emergency (and would text before calling)

Same as yours. I also put mine on if I am on a course longer than a day. Then I may say ‘limited access to emails’

It’ll be a cold day in hell that I give up annual leave time to check and respond to emails.

Same as you but I also add at the end, 'my emails will not be monitored during this time'

If your manager wants to act indispensable, let her. She will soon realise the company don't care as much as she does when there are redundancies etc.

Depends how senior you are. If any of our office staff are off we would not expect them to do any work whatsoever but we do forward their Email to someone else in case something is urgent.

I'm the general manager and could do the same but prefer to keep in touch when on holiday but that's my choice and I would never expect any of my staff to do so.

I am out of the office until xx/xx/xxxx
If your query is urgent, please contact Long Suffering Colleague on 0123456789. Otherwise, I will respond upon my return.

Mine is similar to yours OP where I give an alternative email to contact if urgent (a shared one between 3 of us)

However I tend to check my work emails every few days or so just to keep in the loop with things.

Thank you for your email. I am currently on annual leave returning on XX. I will have no access to emails during this time and shall respond on my return.

If your query is urgent, please contact my colleague (blah blah). Alternatively, please call the switchboard on XX and ask to speak to a member of [my team].

--

Very basic. Depending on what work I have on I may change 'no access' to 'limited access' but realistically I don't pick anything up during my time away.

Mine is similar to yours and I’m a senior manager. It’s important to set an example to others and set boundaries. Only the toxic, control freaks I work with suggest they’ll respond when on leave.

Mine is like yours only it says "I will respond to your email after my return" as sometimes I can't get through all the emails my first day back!