We also encourage employees to use an out-of-office reply (OOO) for other occasions when they are unable to check their inbox, such as when travelling for work, a day with lots of meetings, away at a conference or attending a personal appointment. The automatic reply is helpful for any situation when employees don’t have access to emails during usual working hours and want customers to feel confident about when they will get a response.

Why an Out-of-Office Reply is Important

If clients or other external contacts get in touch whilst a team member is away from work, the out-of-office reply ensures that they continue to receive good quality service and means they won’t think they are being neglected. Overall, the automatic reply system enables effective communication internally and externally, which is essential to a business’s success.

From an HR perspective, it is essential for facilitating a positive life balance for employees – holiday and time off should be just that – time off, not a chance to read emails from the sun lounger!  It is critical for well-being, rest and recovery that employees know they can properly take “down time” when not working.  This will enhance productivity once back to work.  Tired employees are less effective, more prone to making mistakes, generally less tolerant of each other and less resilient if things are stressful.

It demonstrates your commitment to creating a positive healthy workplace to be insistent on employees switching off when they log off.

Rules for a Good Out-of-Office Reply

• Remember that the message is generic, everyone receives it
• Outline specific dates or times the employee is away from emails
• Be concise otherwise receivers may not read it
• Include alternative contacts
• Maintain your typical email formalities such as “Thank you for your email”
• Keep it consistent with the style your business usually communicates in
• You might create standard template messages for all employees to use
• Proofread!

You might choose to include a reason for the absence, but you don’t have to, the reason can be private if employees want or need it to be.

What is absolutely essential, however, is stating who the alternative contact is during the absence. If an employee is only out for an hour or two they probably not need to worry, as they can pick up the enquiry later in the day, but for multiple days or weeks off, including a substitute contact is a must for great customer care and minimising the number of chasing emails the employee will receive!

Make it easy for your sender to decide whether to redirect their enquiry or choose to wait till the employee returns. For extended periods of leave, the information might be longer and more detailed, including a more comprehensive list of who to contact for different scenarios, depending on how workload is being delegated while that employee is unavailable.

Professional vs. Humorous 

Depending on who is receiving the message and your business communication style, sometimes a humorous OOO is suitable. You should also consider the company brand: does a casual message reflect the business? Could it harm your brand in any way? Just because work-mode is switched off doesn’t mean employees should necessarily start their message like they’re texting a mate.  Encourage staff to think carefully about what is appropriate.

At Christmas, the vivoHR OOO message says “We will be eating mince pies, unwrapping presents and enjoying a well-deserved glass of fizz or two – we won’t be checking emails over this period.” It’s fairly casual in tone and there’s no mistaking that we are in holiday mode, but it is polite and sets clear expectations!

With most email accounts, you can add different messages for internal and external replies. An internal email might be more casual than the one that gets sent to customers or clients, which (as a general rule) should usually be as formal as any other email you’d send – unless this is a chance to show a little (appropriate!) humour!

Here are some of vivoHR’s favourite funny OOOs for internal automated replies:

• I’m out of office and can only be reached by telepathy. If that fails, I’ll be in touch after (return date).
• I’m out of the office and probably ignoring my inbox in favour of cocktails, snacks and naps. I’ll be back hungover and fatter on (return date). If you need immediate help, try (backup contact).
• Oh, this is awkward: You’ve caught me away from my desk. I’m away on holiday until (return date), and I know I’m supposed to say I have limited access to email but, the truth is, the WiFi works just fine here, I’m just focusing on sunbathing instead of my inbox. Once I’m back from my holiday, I look forward to speaking to you. If you need urgent help, please reach out to (alternative contact).
• Did you know that 61% of people in the UK don’t use all their annual leave? Well, I am not most people. I give everything 100%, including my holidays, which is why I’m away until (return date). If you need me before then, I’m sorry but I’ll be 100% dedicated to sunbathing. Feel free to contact (alternative contact) if it’s an emergency.

Why not make work a little more amusing for the person reading an OOO and add a funny message … but tell employees to try not to rub it in too much that they are sunning on the beach while others are at the team meeting!

If someone has a period of leave coming up, it can be a good idea to put a line in their signature a couple of weeks beforehand so they can start to prepare customers for their absence and ensure that people don’t suddenly create urgent tasks for them just before they are meant to be finishing!

Permanently Out of Office

What about when employees are leaving a company for good?

Depending on the size or structure of your company, perhaps not everyone will know an employee has left and it’s not always appropriate to inform clients or customers beforehand. So, putting an OOO on the email when someone leaves a company can help ensure emails aren’t falling into an unanswered abyss. It’s likely that eventually the email address and inbox will be archived, but an OOO can help redirect enquiries to start with until all regular contacts have received the message.

Sometimes a company will immediately or very quickly delete an address. Unfortunately for colleagues and the person trying to make contact, that’s not helpful because the sender doesn’t know why it’s bounced back! This can prolong a situation that could be dealt with immediately if information was provided about where to redirect the enquiry.

These OOO messages should always be formal and matter of fact. This ought to go without saying, but departing colleagues should definitely not be allowed to criticise the company!

It is especially important in these types of automated responses to include information about how to contact whoever is stepping into the role or whoever is covering the work in any interim period, or another member of the team who will be able to help.

An out-of-office automated response might seem like a low priority before taking time away from work (everyone knows the day-before panic trying to get everything done), but it’s actually a really helpful tool to keep communication strong and ensure that everything ticks over as smoothly as possible while an employee is not around.

Why cause a headache on the first day back and risk being bombarded with angry clients who have been waiting a week or two to resolve an issue, when it could have been someone else’s task last week?

For more helpful HR advice, give us a call on 01252 757359 or drop us an email at hello@vivohr.co.uk.