To ask my work to put an out of office message on my emails.

[midnightglow29]

I have never experienced this before, so I would appreciate everyone's experience with this. I have asked my work how I can set an out of office message for when I am on annual leave (please note it's a system I can not access to do this myself, and its a work email that is addressed to me only). The response was that we don't set an out of office message on our emails. So I am finding I am getting multiple emails from people with follow-up for responses when I return from work, and I have to start my emails apologising for the delay due to annual leave. Has anyone experienced this? AIBU to have requested this? I have had this with previous employers, so I have not come across this before. Also to note I don't work full time, and I am not allowed to set this or put this in my email signature to outline my working days.

I think this only works if the recipient's email is also hosted on MS Exchange server (aka Microsoft 365).

It sounds to me like this is a deliberate strategy to bully staff into checking emails on days off and holidays.

I would definitely paste a message about your PT availability into all emails to clients. Aside from that, absolutely do not get sucked into working on days off.

Are you a social worker or similar OP? Some workplaces don't want others being chased about your workload when OOO. Its a stupid system.

This would be a red flag to me as it sounds like they don’t care about employee wellbeing and worklife balance.

Plus it’s a waste of effort having people chasing for updates when the person they are chasing are out of office (either on non working days, on holiday, on maternity/paternity leave, currently on training or off sick - this has just shown me all the times ooo is useful!)

Never heard of any company doing this which is why it’s so odd

That’s really bizarre. I’ve never known of a company not do that before.

Thank you for all the responses. The feeling I had about this seems to be shared with others, which is good to know it's not just me. Please note that it can be done on the system it's just that they won't allow me to do this (they have said no one is allowed to put this on). And I don't log on when I am on annual leave, so that is not a concern it was just annoying to apologise for delayed responses.

That's just so unprofessional. You need an OOO message so people know why you aren't responding AND to tell them who to contact in your absence if urgent.

Really interested to know what justification they give for saying it’s not professionally necessary though? What do they say about how it comes across to the email senders? Why don’t they care?

Thanks for the clarification, it must lead to increased workload, and looks unprofessional. I would love to know the rational for this policy.

I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask.

I can set out of office but I also put any planned leave in my signature so colleagues and clients are aware I’ll be off. Doesn’t really work for unexpected absence though!

Bizarre. I would get a bollocking at work if I was on leave without a clear OOO

If you can't set up an OOO message, you might have enough permission to set up a rule while you are off on leave.
The rule could file the message and reply with a standard message if you can create one.

Might that be a way to get what you're looking for without having the level of access to set up an OOO?

Can you set up an autotext short cut so that when you type OOT it inserts a sentence that sets out your working times?

Unless someone monitors your emails, and you’re only allowed to use specific text, surely it’s up to you what you put in them when you sign off?

I hope they realise how utterly unprofessional this looks to customers and potential customers/service users. I would be pretty seriously unimpressed by not getting a reply to an email for ages and then an apology that the person had been on leave/worked part-time. That is literally what OOO is for. If I had to deal with more than one person in the company and it happened more than once, I think I'd be taking my business elsewhere.

Can you tell us the nature of your work? It might help to try and understand why your employer has this rule in place.

I guess if it's always been this way and you're part of a successful business then maybe it's really not an issue.

Sounds like a terrible way to run a business and treat staff

Could you get away with working days Mon/Tues/Weds in your signature?

Or does your company not want customers to know you work part time. 🤦‍♀️

Could you set up the emails to forward to a gmail address and set the OOO on there?

Sounds like a right bunch of arse though.

Make it clear you will NOT be checking emails when not working and that you would like an OOO facility. Like everyone else on the planet!

Wow, that's really rude to people contacting you for them to get a silence for an unspecified time.
They will waste time wondering/chasing!

I'm struggling to understand how any organisation can argue this is the way it should be.

Personally I'd be questioning the judgement of the person starting that and going higher for a different decision.

That is really odd. I would raise it with my manager again if it was me.

I was on holidays last week, I had lots of emails from people wanting things done. They got my out of office reply. Most proceeded to follow up 1st thing Monday with ' hope you had a lovely holiday, now to my email.........' but at least they didn't think I was ignoring them. That would be so unprofessional. I also put it on if I am away for the day so that ppl know not to expect a speedy reply

Guessing if it’s so much hassle to set up the OOO on OP’s email system, adding a simple line of text on her email signature will also be tricky.

how odd! Is there a way to bring this up in a team meeting/one to one that it gives a poor perception of the company?
in the meantime Can you put your holiday dates in your footer for the coming month/6 weeks. Feels like you shouldn’t have to but could be a solution? That or try and pre-empt replies the week it two before by stating in your email you’ll be off from X-Y dates so if they need a response to contact a named persons (whosever is appointed as cover?)

Can you email the people who email you in advance to let them know you'll be away?

Are these people that you are in regular contact with?

I put my upcoming annual leave for a rolling 3 month period in my email signature, so they also see it when I send them an email. Could be an option if you aren’t blocked from doing that!

Can you perhaps include it in your email signature instead? If you cannot do it via an OOO