You have cleared most of your tasks and are almost ready to go on leave. But there is one little detail you should not overlook lest you be disturbed during your break: an out-of-office message.
Most email service providers allow you to activate this feature and customise a message to convey your absence.
Some keep these very simple by informing people they will be away. Others prefer to have a little fun with these messages.
But before you start putting one together for yourself, consider the following tips.
What to Include
The exact dates of your time off. Remember to change dates if you are reactivating the same message from the last time you used it.
Next, give people a reason for your absence. This is important for people who might still try to reach you. Indicating that you are taking vacation or personal time would deter them from trying to contact you.
If possible, include the names of people one can contact while you are away. Provide their numbers and email addresses. Go a step further to indicate whom to reach for which specific reason.
What to Avoid
What may be urgent to someone else may not be the same to you, and vice versa. So adding a line on how they can reach you if it’s “urgent” may end up being frustrating for both you and the sender.
If you really want to enjoy time away from work, do not give someone a means of contacting you, unless you are absolutely willing to attend to their request. Besides, taking leave is a way to recharge and refresh yourself, and you should trust that your colleagues would be able to handle things while you are away.
Also, you might be excited about your plans away from the office, but there is no need to furnish specific details. A generic “vacation” or “personal/family time” would suffice.
Do not put your colleagues in a spot by committing how quickly they would be able to respond to emails in your absence. They have their own workload too. More importantly, before you provide their names and contact details, do check that your colleagues can serve as your substitutes in the first place. There’s nothing more frustrating that receiving multiple out-of-office replies from a team that’s all on leave for various reason.