From time to time we all need to take a break from work for a number of different reasons. Whether you’re going on holiday over the summer, are taking a week or so off over Christmas to spend time with family, or even if you need to take some time off work to get over an illness and relax, you’ll be familiar with the need to create the dreaded ‘out of office’ message so that you can let anyone who needs to get in touch with you. Know that you’re not at the office, and when you expect to get back. We’ve put together a list of handy ideas that you might like to use when designing and recording your essential out of office message.
Keep to the Point
Since there is only the need to tell anyone who’s trying to get in contact with you that you’re taking some time off and when they can expect you to get in touch, the best out of office phone messages are short, sweet and straight to the point. Don’t go into realms of detail about why you’re off – your customers and clients probably won’t care either way – just record a clear message detailing the amount of time that you’ll be off for.
Answer Phone Services
It’s a good idea to allow people the option of leaving a voicemail message for you after they have listened to your message. so that when you’re back in the office you know who’s been in touch and what it was regarding in order to make getting back in contact with them easier. Ask callers to leave you their name, contact details and reason for calling in the message, to make things simpler for yourself when you return.
Emergency Contact
You might find that it’s a good idea to provide callers with an alternative way of contacting you if the situation is an emergency or urgent, depending on the nature of the business that you work in. For example, you could say in your out of office message that if a caller needs to get into contact with you about an urgent matter that can’t wait until you return, they will be able to get hold of you via email – leave your e-mail address and ensure that you leave instructions for callers to put ‘urgent’ in the subject line so that you know it can’t be ignored.
Don’t Apologise
There is no need to apologise in your message for being out of the office – we all deserve a little time off and a break now and then! Simply say something along the lines of ‘Unfortunately, I am out of the office from Monday the 5th until Tuesday the 12th’, for example. You could then go on to say ‘Please leave your name, number and reason for calling after the tone, or if you would like to discuss an urgent matter, please email mail@mail.com’.
Out of office messages don’t have to be scary – practice a few times beforehand and play them back until you record one you like. If you have any great ideas or tips that you’d like to add, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.