It’s finally here. You can take off that lanyard, use up your stash of free coffee from your stamp card, drop off your suits to the dry cleaner to be returned post NYE and set your alarm to mid morning permanently. You’re preparing for the annual Christmas work purge, and you’ll be sipping mojitos in the sunshine any day now.

Somehow, this cruel world hasn’t given everyone holidays at the same time. People WILL try to email you, and even crueler still — will want a response. But without your phone, laptop, tablet or wifi on that beach in Tahiti, you’ll have to resort to automating the perfect out of office message in place of your fabulous self.

Here are 5 of the best uses for your out of office message that are sure to bring a smile to your contacts faces, build compassion in your ‘need for leave’ or curtly get your point across. So without further ado...

1. A Secondary Christmas Card

Those who are stuck at work while you’re on vay-cay will love receiving something different in their inbox than the standard “George Johnson will be away from X to Y and will respond ASAP blah blah blah” they will get from everyone else. Why not treat this moment as a *secondary Christmas card? A lovely message that serves as a reminder to others to take time out and relax with family and friends when they can throughout the holiday period. A graphic can really brighten someone’s day, and a nice quote might just pick up the “I’m at work while you’re eating Christmas ham” vibe in their world.

*Or first, it's better for the environment anyway.

2. Provide An Alternative Route For Truly Urgent #HolidayInterruptions

Why not go with something that encourages your sender to view your email as an extension of yourself? See that there is a real person on the other end. Try something like:

[Greeting of Choice],

All year I care about the work I do for your fabulous business. I do it with a huge smile on my face and bring my best everyday to give you amazing results. To do that, I need to take time out, spend time with my husband (who even IS that guy anymore?), see my family and cook myself into a coma over the Christmas break to recharge.  

I do my best - for your best - when I am fresh. I won’t be touching a keyboard while I’m away, but have set up a special email account for *emergencies that I can access on my phone while I am away. I will check it daily in the evenings.

*Life and death matters are not open to interpretation. If your matter is more important than my marriage, use this email __@_____*

[Signature of Choice],
[Your Name] 

Check out this perfect example of personalised email automation by Josh Kopelman.

3. Choosing To Work While You’re Away, Kinda..

Whichever role you work in, you’re likely to field the odd question or two. Does your business have resources (that aren’t people) you can direct your sender to, to help themselves? Why not try drafting up your own version of the template provided below? 

[Greeting of Choice],
If you are contacting me, it’s probably because you need help with “X”. As I’m out of the office for the dates of “X” to “Y”, I thought I’d give you the tools to be able to help yourself in the event of an emergency. So, if your problem relates to:

• X
• Y
• Z

Click any of the links above for handy self lead guides. If any of those don’t answer your question, please ensure you make contact with _____ email or ____ on the phone. These messages are checked daily by our skeleton staff and will be responded too. Until then, I apologise for any delay in responding to your message.

[Signature of Choice],
[Your Name] 

4. Give Something

Distracting your emailer with something shiny and useful might get you over the line while you’re on summer holidays - leaving your vacation completely uninterrupted.

People use hold music while you wait for a call, planes have magazines to read en route, even the lift plays music to break the monotony, why can’t you provide a lil customer experience in your out of office message?

For example:

Thanks for sending that through,

I’m currently out of the office, but never mind that! I'm glad you showed up —

Here’s something I made for you:

[Include a worksheet, blog series, podcast series, tool, video, checklist, content offer, or whatever suits the sender’s you have most frequently]

I hope [name of thing] takes you to great places.

When I’m back at my desk I can’t wait to hear your feedback!

Happy Holidays,

[Your name]

5. Use Topical Humour

For some people, Christmas is a moment out of Love Actually, Home Alone or National Lampoons.

For me, it's never ending texts from AfterPay and remembering what I bought to receive those texts before the parcel arrives and I can stash it somewhere safe. You can totally bring other people on the ride with you and make light of a sometimes stressful, always busy time of the year. Try choose a message, quote or picture that actually makes you giggle or resonates. As a mother, I nearly choked on my sandwich reading this one:

"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together." - Garrison Keillor 

Try accompany this sort of message with a short story of how your Christmas resonates, think 1-2 sentences. It will certainly remind your sender that you are a person, provide them with a giggle and keep their spirits high until you return.

Bonus tip: if you aren’t sure if your message is funny, or at least, not insulting or damaging to your business overall, don’t post it. If you wouldn’t send it to your Nanna, don’t send it to your senders. 

Where To Now?

Whichever direction you choose to go, you are definitely going to stand out from the crowd with these helpful out of office message formats. Liven up the 'OOO' space this Summer holidays and leave your desk with the intention of taking an actual break to reconnect with family, friends and most importantly - food!