I received the following automatic out of office reply the other day.
____________________________________________________________________________
STOP: YOUR EMAIL HAS BEEN DELETED- Out of office until September 8th
Please read
1. What is this?
This is my VACATION and I am working hard ON BEING ON vacation. This is the best way I have of making sure my email does not ruin my vacation.
2. Why delete your email? Why not just read it all when you get back?
Good question. This is the only way I have found to truly disconnect. Otherwise, I will be thinking about email with an impending sense of doom…knowing I would need to slog through thousands of emails when I return.
3. Aren’t your worried you will miss out on something important?
I am terrified actually! But I have an amazing team who can probably do a better job than I would have done anyway.
-Research Program Manager: Aiesha.___@____.edu
-PREPARE Program Manager: Jana.______@____.edu
-Scheduling: Ismael._____@____.edu
5. But I really need you to see this email!!
Consider re-emailing me on Sept 8th or email Aiesha (research) or Jana (PREPARE-related).
You can also send a delayed email.
Windows:https://uit.______.
Mac: the Send button on the desktop version has a drop down with a calendar function.
Feedback welcome (if you send it after Sept 8th)
(Borrowed from Rebecca, Gabe & Bob )
_________________________________________________________________
I have to say, I think this is brilliant. I have bragged in the past about replying to work email with the opening line being "Greetings from London," but in reading and replying to office email while on vacation in London, was I really on vacation, or just working remotely? Email and mobile phones have revolutionized our world, but they also allow work to invade our off hours. My work is not life or death, why do I treat it as such. I sincerely hope the next time I take a few days off, I have the guts to post this out of office message.
Do you think I will have the guts to post this? Would you?
Hell yes I would!!!! When I vacation, I vacation. I very seldom, or next to never, go on line, blog or check emails. Vacation to me is about changing it up and relaxing and unplugging. If the world is burning down, Im sure I'll find out from someone.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, most jobs I had frowned big time on communicating with vacationing co workers.
I need to get better about this
DeleteNo, not on. Holidays are holidays. Away from work. I think it is over complicating when you are on holidays. Return to work and delete all emails sent when you were on holidays. If it is important, you will hear from them again.
ReplyDeleteWhen we returned from Ireland, it took me two days to reply to the emails I had left marked as important enough to need a reply. I bet half of them had forgotten what they emailed me about, or otherwise resolved the issue.
DeleteHELL YEAH and HELL YEAH! the line between office and home is rapidly fading; WE THE PEOPLE must take back our home life, free from annoying work bullshit!
ReplyDeletePS - nice pix of tower bridge in london there.
DeleteIf we get you on the warpath, we will win back our personal lives
DeleteAnne Marie is right. If people continue to let work emails and calls go on after hours, weekends and on vacations...it's sure to become the new normal, and employers will take advantage of that.
DeleteYes, I would,but just to alert people that I am not ignoring them, I am simply unavailable at this time.
ReplyDeleteI tend to look at email once or twice a day, unless I leave my phone off.
DeleteVery clever response but I'm not sure it's very effective. After all, checking your work email is entirely up to you. If you don't want to see them, just don't check your work emails. When I'm on vacation, I never look at my work email. It can wait.
ReplyDeleteP.S. To answer your question, I'm not sure what is happening with the City Daily Photo group. There hasn't been any discussion but I have noticed that several pages on the hosting site have expired. I did see a note from a fellow blogger today to stay tuned.
I look forward to deleting my office email from my phone, it is hard not to look.
DeleteClever. Very clever. But I'd be annoyed having to read that when trying to get my job done. Also, I wouldn't have been able to do something like that in any of the work I did. Guaranteed that someone would have found it UN-amusing.
ReplyDeleteShe has a joint appointment in law and medicine at a major California school.
DeleteI never checked work emails while on vacation. I knew nothing would be that urgent. Just lucky, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe office owns a piece of my phone for $30 a month
Delete