Send your email again when I get back

[FallOfSloths]

Aibu to think this isn't good enough as an auto reply?

Medium senior person in work, off until Easter.

Sent her an email, and the auto reply says : 'I'll be back after the Easter bank holidays. I won't be replying to anything during this time, so if you expect a response then resend your email when I am back.'

For info, she's just on a 2 week holiday, not very long term absence like sick leave or parental leave etc. My email is about something that needs her input, so I can't ask one of her team.

AIBU to think this is a bit bloody cheeky? I don't need an answer straight away, but would expect to send the email now and get it answered after she returns. I don't really have the time or headspace to diarise when she's in work so I can email her then. Imagine if everyone did this! Surely the whole point of email is to send when it's convenient and the person doesn't have to reply instantly?

Can’t we just leave people to enjoy their holiday? Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you should.

leave the poor woman alone!

I've known a few people who literally delete everything when they come back because if its important someone will chase. Its not my style, but I'm sure it's effective in managing expectations.

You might not like her style, but it's her choice. She obviously doesn't want to delegate to her team for some reason and that could be down to a number of reasons.

I’m with you. It’s rude. If I stopped sending emails because people were on holiday I’d never get anything done. This week loads are on holiday returning next week when I’m on leave. I need to get my emails done this week so they can reply next and I can action it the following week. Otherwise I’d wait 2 weeks before beginning the conversation and delay the project.

also, what if you’re emailing a few people? Do they expect you to email them separately because they’re on leave?

i understand the reasoning but you taking leave shouldn’t create extra work for others.

She can enjoy it, she will be able to action/respond during work hours when she returns from leave.

You don't have to "diarise" anything though, just schedule it now to send when she's back

That would really annoy me too, stop making your holiday my problem.

It is perfectly normal to go through your inbox when you get back from holiday. You can usually work out for yourself what will have been dealt with and what wont. Plus would you not just speak to you OOO forward to check if they had already done it?

Out of interest OP, how many emails do you get?

I regularly get in excess of 50+ a day, probably only a handful of which need my response in a time urgent manner and can't be done by someone else.

Two weeks of that is 500+ emails to sift.

So actually getting, say, 10 priority ones at 9am on my return would be more efficient than the hours of sifting, making a priority list, attending meetings and then actually working.

If your message is important, find someone else in her absence or set a reminder in outlook. Its very easy.

@thismummyslife what if OP’s work doesn’t have a system that can automatically schedule the sending of an email? What if OP is on holiday when the other woman is back? Have you never heard of sending something at a time that suits you, assuming the person will read it at a time that suits them? Sometimes I’ll send someone a birthday card a few days before their birthday, rather than the day before. I’m not expecting them to open it straight away. They can open it whenever they want.

@amusedbush not all systems have that facility

I think she is just trying to make sure that if it is important, to raise it again.
Why don't you just copy paste the email and add a scheduled send in outlook for the day she gets back. Then forget about it.

@DenholmElliot11 OP isn’t expecting her colleague to read the email on her holiday. She just wants to send it now, so colleague can read it on her return.

No. Either it is resolved or they forget. We work from new emails as normal and sift through the backlog when time allows. As I say, standard practice in our very large organisation. We of course have backup contact names and word it nicely, but if a response is needed from me specifically in a normal timeframe after I return then resend. Otherwise you could easily add another week on there.

This is for absences of more than a few days of course, a day or two you just handle as usual. It is not rude, just more efficent for us.

She's on holidays and just pointing that out.

No one should have to be thinking of work while on holidays except the owner of a business or the CEO.

Go through her emails when she returns like everyone else? This system is great for her but means lots of extra work for everyone else.

Why should your holiday create more work for me?

This. 100% this.

Spending literally 15 seconds to hit “forward - delay response until…” isn’t exactly a “lot of work”

it’s exactly the same effort if you email someone and get an OOO - please contact so and so in my absence.

literally writing this thread will have taken you significantly longer than a reply/delay response

It's not "lots of extra work" for you. It takes ten seconds to resend your email with a scheduled send time.

Whereas for someone who gets, say, 150 emails a day, it will take days to trawl through a couple of thousand emails on return, not to mention the following up to check if those emails have been actioned.

Not my boss.

What if I'm off for two weeks after she returns? Then something gets totally unnecessarily delayed because she can't work through her emails?

For people who asked, it will be obvious that it hasn't been resolved. Eg if she's the only person who can chop down trees, I've sent her an email saying 'can you chop down that yew tree in the garden?'. Why should I have to take extra time to add a calendar reminder to resend it when she's back?

Are there companies where no-one gets emailed when they're on annual leave? Sounds absolutely bat shit to me.

Because she is still working. Her boss won't read the email because she's on holiday.

I've always gone with the mantra 'I send emails when convenient for me, you reply when convenient for you.'

leave the poor woman alone!

She doesn't have to look at her email while she's away.
She can do what the rest of us do and go through her inbox and respond when she returns from leave.

It means that if anything is urgent the person emailing will contact someone else, and if the email is not actually necessary the person emailing will have forgotten all about it after 2 weeks. And spam will just be deleted automatically.

It saves hundreds of (mostly) pointless emails piling up.

what pp said: in the old days when you didn't get billions of mails every day, it was relatively easy to come back, whip through what had come in and prioritise and then answer.

now? 50 billion emails to wade through? much better to be honest about it. Delete them all, then answer as and when the new ones come in.

And you can easily go into your sent emails and automate that it will go out again (I think?)

Literally never had to do this. It's either obvious from an email trail if it's not just sent to me, or I deal with it when I get back.

Where you have a role where you are drowning in emails this is a very sensible approach! Otherwise things get lost and/or you never catch up xx

Honestly i genuinely wonder how some people cope with actual workplace stress