Gearing up for Spring Break? Here’s How to Do Your Out of Office Right

The official beginning of spring is less than two weeks away, but depending on where you live, the weather might still be downright winter-like. Still, mid-March traditionally marks the beginning of Spring Break season, when school closings allow many families to take their first extended vacations of the year.

And as anyone who regularly uses email will tell you, with Spring Break comes a swell in out of office replies. These are a modern business must, but there are right ways to let everyone know you’re on vacation and unavailable — and wrong ways to rub your awesome tropical adventure in everyone’s faces. CMIT Solutions has collected 5 crucial tips to help you do out of office etiquette right this month:

1) Update your calendar… Most offices that use Microsoft Outlook as a primary email/calendar/contact app allow sharing between employees, which makes it easy for everyone to schedule meetings and quickly see when their co-workers are and aren’t available. Accordingly, make sure you update your Outlook calendar by creating a standing Appointment marked with the Out of Office status for the days you’ll be gone.

2) …But be mindful of the details. There’s nothing worse than receiving an Outlook notification alerting you to the fact that your co-worker is out of the office, each and every day that they’re gone. So send the Outlook appointment concerning your Out of Office status only to people with whom you work closely or to whom you report. Just make sure you turn those regular Reminders off, OK?

3) Set up your autoresponder message… This task can be completed in Outlook by clicking Tools > Out of Office and then filling in body copy, dates and times, and Address Book rules — for instance, for security and privacy purposes, it’s best to only send autoresponders to internal contacts since spammers can check out of office messages to validate whether or not an email account is active. You also have the option of sending just one out of office response to each unique address — that way, if you’re a prolific writer or receiver of emails, your close contacts won’t get inundated with 100 reminders that you’re out of the office.

4) …And make sure you’re specific… Obviously include the time period of your absence, along with when you’ll be back in the office (or when people can expect a response from you). If you know that you just can’t get through the day without keeping your inbox nice and tidy, even on vacation, consider including some version of that — just remember that underpromising and then overdelivering is always better. For example, if you plan on checking emails once a day, maybe mention the fact that you’ll do it once a week or every few days. Also, don’t forget contact information, either for yourself in case of emergency (just be careful who you give your cell-phone number to!) or for a designated backup who can handle pressing issues in your absence.

5) …But not too detailed. The modern out of office reply should serve just two purposes: 1) a polite and professional reminder you are not available to be relied upon for a particular time period, and 2) a helpful redirect to someone else in your company who can answer a question or solve a problem. The reminders about your five-star lodging or your adventurous day trips or your sunning-and-spinning white-sand beach sessions or just how disconnected you plan to be while you’re gone? Those parts are never necessary. If you’ve never heard the term “humble-bragging,” well, you’ll know what it is when you get those smug out of office replies about skiing in the Rockies or sailing around the Caribbean or hiking the Alps next week.

To keep things very simple, consider this general out of office template:

“Hello, I’m out of the office from [date] until [date]. I will only be available [specific time period]; if you need help in the meantime, please contact [name + info.]”  

That way, whether we’re in the office or out of it, we can all enjoy Spring Break.

Looking for more ways to enhance efficiency and boost productivity? Need help using Microsoft Outlook to manage calendars and contacts? CMIT Solutions can help. We worry about IT so you don’t have to — no matter when, where, or from what device you’re working. Contact us today for more information.


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