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 have just changed my OOO from "...I will respond to your message on my return..." to "...I will read your message on my return..." because that I think I can promise...

But then what's wrong with management being different to the general workers, ?

I don't put a date either. If there's a date then the person sending the message will expect a reply on your first day back. Also, as the post I've quoted said, can be a security issue.

I put the general email address as an alternative email - one of my colleagues put my email and I had to ask them to remove it as I was getting random emails on her day off that were nothing to do with me and should have been dealt with by my assistant as I don't do admin!

What's the security issue?

I find it disingenuous that a GM says that they work during annual leave, but doesn't expect anyone else too. It's literally setting the example and shaping the culture of the whole organisation.

Except that a General Manager's role is different from other roles.

You seem to be forgetting that some people's jobs are different from other people's jobs. There are plenty of jobs where people are paid "to get their work done", and that nobody else is managing their hours. Also that nobody else picks up their work, when they aren't in work. Not everyone is paid to do set hours, or even a set number of hours. Each of those people are different in the way they then choose to manage their workload.

Depending on your profession and company, if there's groups or individuals trying to infiltrate your company or dept ect, then it gives them a window as to when your available or not, which may help your opponents plans.

Bit like on the TV show hustle, they knew when x manager would be away on holiday and then was able to impersonate that person etc.

Good to see another Hustle fan here!

That was a great show, pitty when Danny and Stacy parted ways, seems odd the way that happened.

I did like Shaun and Emma, they seemed to fit the team quite well.

Although the show always needed Mickey, not the same in season 3/4 I think it was when he was in Sidney.

Never did understand the meaning of three socks.

I used to put "I am on leave and will return to work on X. I will deal with your email on my return", but now I just write "Your email will not be read until then" to make it clear that I will not even entertain the idea of reading, let alone replying.

I had to start doing that after some CFs did send me emails and expected me to reply to them when I was on sick leave, not even annual leave

Mine's pretty similar to most other people's on here, what is everyone's thoughts on what duration of absence means an out of office is needed, obviously if you're on a 2 weeks holiday it's sensible, but I have colleagues that have taken to putting them on when they're on a half day training or extended meeting which I think is pretty unnecessary IMO, we work in HR so nothing life threatening is going to happen if you don't reply to your emails within an hour, plus surely it just creates chaos if people forward the email to your colleague (who often as not is in the same meeting as you anyway), they reply saying something different to what you would have, everyone gets confused etc. And tbh it slightly smacks of 'I'm so very important I can't be away from my desk for even a second without letting you all know'. But maybe people do it because they've been getting shit for not replying quickly enough? Although surely if people are going to be email dicks the out of office won't really deter them, they'll be pestering for a response to their probably not very urgent question 30 secs after the end of your meeting anyway?

Mine says I'm away until a certain date - my emails won't be checked while I'm away.

If they are contacting about xxx type of work please forward to my line managers (I deal with deadline sensitive work).

I don't promise when I will look at stuff when I get back - because that would be promises I cannot keep.

I do not check emails when I'm off. I need headspace away from the work and demands of work.

@category12 and for those of us that often WFH, it's not a good idea to let people know when you're not at home. I have suppliers and freelancers that have my home address - I don't want to risk them showing up when I'm off on my holidays!

I am out of the office until [Date] and will have no access to emails during this time. If you have a query relating to X then please email my colleagues x or x. If the matter is related to x please contact x. Alternatively, I will respond to your email when I return.

No email checking when I'm off.

Mine says I am currently on annual leave so it will take me longer than usual to respond to your email. Please contact (PA) or another member of the transaction team if your email is urgent.

In my role I’m obliged for fraud prevention to take two week continuous holidays each year this is partly to ensure someone else covers my work during this period and would uncover any little information scheme I might have going. For this reason we don’t access email or take calls during this period.

@maxelly I've asked my team to put their OOO on if they're going to be out for more than 1 day as we have an SLA to acknowledge (not necessarily resolve the issue) emails within that timeframe.

My out of office goes on for anything other than just leaving the office an hour or two early, as emails directly to me usually relate to time sensitive deadlines so my customers need to know if they have to place their order with one of my colleagues in my absence.
I flatly refuse to have my work emails linked to my phone; lots of my colleagues do, and check emails when they're on leave, but it's isn't expected or necessary, and as much as I love my job, I don't get paid enough for that!!

Someone in our team does this.
I agree - in their case it is definitely a "I am so important I need to let everyone know, in case the World collapses without me during those 2 hours".

It is so annoying as just clogs up the inbox with auto replies.

When I send an e-mail, I have no expectation that anyone will reply instantly - that is part of the decision in sending an e-mail rather than making a call (phone or video).

I only put an OoO on if I am going to be away from my e-mails for longer than my usual length of time (I work PT).

It will depend on your individual job of course.

Same as you. We have an unofficial system where colleague same level will go on our if office just in case - so I cover her hol she covers mine.
If anything will need attention whilst away then I’d ask someone to do that specific task.
No circumstances would I give a personal mobile.

Im currently on holiday until x, please contact y if the matter is urgent, otherwise I’ll respond on my return.

Mine is similar to yours OP. I'm in a fairly senior role, so my team know they can contact me if something urgent comes up, as do other members of senior mgt, but I wouldn't routinely take calls and answer emails. It doesn't set a good example. I get paid enough to deal with the odd interruption, but I don't want junior team members thinking they should do the same.

That seems sensible, although while we're on the topic of auto replies, I have a colleague in another department that have a similar KPI to you, and she proudly told me she's found a 'loophole' where she's set an auto-reply to all incoming messages saying 'I've received your email and will reply in due course' - to me that's pretty cheeky and not really in the spirit of what's trying to achieved there. I know a lot of companies have these auto replies on generic inboxes but I find it actually quite annoying as the 'customer', if all I wanted was a delivered receipt/read receipt outlook has that function, I don't need an auto reply as well cluttering up my inbox!

Obviously not all queries can be dealt with fully within the 24 hour turnaround period, totally get that but to me if there's a 24 hour response time KPI it does mean you need to actually read the email, digest the contents, answer it if it's an easy query or give a timescale if a more complicated response, not sure a computer generated auto reply really hits the mark there! But then again on other MN threads I've been flamed for saying I try and stick to a 24 hour turnaround time for all my own emails (again giving a response with a timeframe for a proper answer if complicated, or redirecting to a colleague or team member if it's not for me to answer), totally UR expectation according to many!

Also, does anyone else ever give themselves a mini panic attack where you've written a stroppy and/or bad news email to someone, dithered over the 'send' button for ages, finally hit it then jump out of your seat when seconds later the person appears to have replied already! Of course it's only the bloody out of office (or generic, we've received your email we'll get back to you' message). I've even done it in the past where I've put my own email address in the 'to' field to use a BCC or as a safety net against hitting send too soon, forgotten to change it then panicked when I accidentally email myself . Or maybe it's only me that can't cope with these minor email trivialities?