Out of office auto-reply

wrightpalomo

Those of you who have email-y jobs: I'd love to know how you're wording your out of office auto reply for maternity leave. I'll be off of work for at least 6 weeks, maybe 8. Because I'm an independent contractor I'll be getting zero pay from my "employer" and so motivation to check and reply to emails will be at an all-time-low. I'm obviously going to include who to contact if the person needs immediate help, but how do I word the rest of the message? Are you all mentioning that you're out of your office because you've had a baby? If you're not sure when you'll be back at work, how are you saying that? 

brittneyandadam

Mine will read something like:

"I will be out of the office on maternity leave and will be returning on Monday, Nov. 3rd. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact JB or RB."

However, this depends on when my position will be eliminated. If I won't be returning after my leave, I might tweak it to read that I'll be going on maternity leave but will not be returning to my position due to company job cuts and thank you to everyone I've had the pleasure of working with.

kmbk27

Because my math absolutely blows, is there a time frame you can state your anticipated return (as in "mid-November")?

Not planning on mentioning mat leave. I am going back to work 11/20, which is a week before Thanksgiving. Because I know things will be a giant clusterfuck when I come back, I am giving myself that first week to sort through the mess. I am planning on stating more or less this:

"Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office without access to email. I will be returning after the Thanksgiving holiday. For assistance with (x related inquiries) please contact (contact name) at (contact number). Thank you."

That way if I get caught up earlier and can get to anything that wasn't addressed while I was gone ASAP, great. If not, I have that week.

LaurenWarwick

I was thinking something along the lines of "I am currently out of the office on maternity leave, with no access to e-mail.  Please contact ______ at ______ in my absence."

I will be taking 8 weeks completely off, then 4+weeks working from home, sorting through e-mails, and making sporadic trips to the office if necessary.  At that point, it will be the holidays, which is a slow time at work and we end up getting lots of time off.  I don't plan to be back full time until January 2.

ashleyb1114

Last time, mine said somethig kind of like "I am out of the office on extended leave. I expect to return in early May. I will not have access to email or phone, so if you need assistance, please contact XX." I plan on doing the same this time.

amom2four

ashleyb1114 said:

Last time, mine said somethig kind of like "I am out of the office on extended leave. I expect to return in early May. I will not have access to email or phone, so if you need assistance, please contact XX." I plan on doing the same this time.

I'm not working in an office currently due to my sons asd and two lo's that would need daycare that would wipe out any take home $$, but this is closest to the wording I would use. Extended leave could be many things and it's not too personal unless you have that close relationship with all of your clients. Working in the medical field in the past, I wouldn't give many details out to patients when I was out of the office about why, it's good to be a little careful in my opinion.

dal2aus

Mom2four97355 said:

Last time, mine said somethig kind of like "I am out of the office on extended leave. I expect to return in early May. I will not have access to email or phone, so if you need assistance, please contact XX." I plan on doing the same this time.

I'm not working in an office currently due to my sons asd and two lo's that would need daycare that would wipe out any take home $$, but this is closest to the wording I would use. Extended leave could be many things and it's not too personal unless you have that close relationship with all of your clients. Working in the medical field in the past, I wouldn't give many details out to patients when I was out of the office about why, it's good to be a little careful in my opinion.

What they said.  I work in HR, so I'm not comfortable saying anything beyond "leave", especially since there really is no such thing as maternity leave.

purplestarz

For internal emails within my company it will be, "thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office on maternity leave. For immediate assistance please contact...etc".

For external customers it will be the same, minus "maternity"....just not comfortable with that. I don't mind about internal emails, especially since a memo will be going out to all 1200 employees about my leave and I said it was fine already to say maternity leave (I work in HR and am a point of contact for all employees). Honestly, I figured by saying maternity I would avoid a lot of questions.

I'm trying to purposely not put a date, as I'm not sure I'm returning, honestly. I suppose in your situation you could just say something like "I will respond to your message when I return from leave" and just leave out an expected date.

Bella2425

"I'm out on maternity leave. Contact so and so" I might go in and change it to include my return date but not until it is solid and much closer to that date.

mytinc

If you're not sure of exactly when you'll return you could write something like this:

I am out of the office this week and unable to check emails.  Please contact XXXX in my absence at XXXX.

Then you can just turn it off when you return.  No dates mentioned at all.

Groxb

I can't take anything seriously today.

Don't you wish you could write, "I popped out a baby. What have you done that is that awesome? Leave me alone to bask in my and his/her glory."

ConversationFear

I have been setting up all of our vendors and reps with my replacement for the past month, so at this point everyone is pretty aware that I am having a baby in Sept. My email (which is set up already to go off on August 29th (my last day) says something to the effect of:

I will be on maternity leave from Aug 29 through Nov. 25. I will have very limited access to email.

Any information concerning facilities and invoicing shoudl be directed to (insert address/phone # here). Any info pertaining to new store construction should be sent to (insert contact here).

beccalee721

I'm not planning on mentioning the "maternity leave" part and planning on just putting the date I will be returning with contacts to assist. I think if they see you'll be out for 6-8 weeks they'll be able to make the connection. Since I'm military I have to come into work as soon as I'm discharged to fill out the paperwork so I'll know the date I'm returning. It might be my work environment, but it seems TMI to say I'm on maternity leave, but that's the military mentality for ya.

brittneyandadam

beccalee721 said:

I'm not planning on mentioning the "maternity leave" part and planning on just putting the date I will be returning with contacts to assist. I think if they see you'll be out for 6-8 weeks they'll be able to make the connectionpeople. e I'm military I have to come into work as soon as I'm discharged to fill out the paperwork so I'll know the date I'm returning. It might be my work environment, but it seems TMI to say I'm on maternity leave, but that's the military mentality for ya.

I think it all depends on who you deal with for your job. I def wouldn't put something personal like that if I dealt with a lot of different people or the general public. However, all my emails are to and from the same internal departments with...generally with the same people. So, I feel more comfortable with something a little more personable.

bainidhedub

mytinc said:

If you're not sure of exactly when you'll return you could write something like this:

I am out of the office this week and unable to check emails.  Please contact XXXX in my absence at XXXX.

Then you can just turn it off when you return.  No dates mentioned at all.

I don't like saying "this week" if you know it's going to be longer. I think it would lead to people trying again a week later, thinking you'll be back then, instead of talking to your alternate.

rockychryslerb2010

I haven't figured out the exact wording, but it will definitely not mention maternity leave.  I will probably say something like 'I am currently out of the office on extended leave and will not be checking e-mail.   I plan to be back in the office in early 2015.'  for my internal reply, i will list those individuals who are covering for me in certain areas, but my external reply to direct everyone to our team that deals with all external client inquiries.