Out-of-office messages: 10 outrageous ones and some helpful advice

‘Tis the season for folks to take time off, which means plenty of out-of-office email messages.

And some people really get creative with those automatic replies!

We’ve searched near and far for the best of them from places like FindLaw, the Society for Human Resource Management and even TikTok!

Have you run across anything like these?

You might share these for a chuckle (and reminding your team they’re for entertainment purposes only – not to be imitated):

• “I will be deleting all emails upon my return. If it’s urgent email me again.”
• “I will be social distancing from my emails until Dec. 4th.”
• “I’m OOO and I promise you I’m not important enough for you to contact me until I’m back.”
• “Leave me alone until 11/30.”
• “You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.”
• “I’m at an event and won’t be checking emails. I’m sure you don’t want to hear this since you’re working, so here’s a cat video to cheer you up.”
• “I’m out of the office. I will allow each sender one email and if you leave me multiple emails, I’ll randomly delete some until there’s just one left.”
• “I am having an out of office experience … I will be checking emails, but not so often as to spoil the experience.”
• “I am unable to delete all the emails you have sent me until I return. Please be patient, and yours will be deleted in the order it was received.”
• “I’m thinking about what you’ve sent. Please wait by your PC for my response.”

Best practices for Finance’s out-of-office messages

Of course, there are better (though less entertaining) ways to craft an auto-response when employees take time off.

Be sure to share these four ideas for making an out-of-office message more useful to recipients:

• Don’t overdo it. If someone’s emailing you on New Year’s Day, they probably don’t expect a response anyway.
• Include specific dates. Steer clear of messages that say “I will be out until tomorrow morning.” That leaves people guessing which day was “today” and which is “tomorrow.”
• Name a back-up. Instead of just saying you’re out, it’s also a good idea to let people know whom to contact until you return.
• Test it. After you’ve programmed your message, send yourself an email so you can catch mistakes.