present14:25Why employees are waving answers outside their office
An out-of-office email only requires a few things – the fact that you're away from work, what day you'll be back and who to contact in the meantime.
not anymore
Instead of copying and pasting messages, employees have improvised a polite out-of-office reply.
“Until Thursday, pretend I don't exist,” reads one shared by Canadian content creator Laura Whaley. He collected examples submitted by his millions of followers.
Another said, “For any urgent matters, please take a deep breath because there are only a few.”
The objective is otherwise to have some fun with short, regular automated answers.
Whaley says that sometimes bold or sarcastic comments are more than a way for employees to add a little personality to work — they're a way for people to balance their work and personal lives.
She says it's not unusual to get an out-of-office response from someone who's enjoying a vacation long after getting a real answer.
“There's kind of an expectation that's set (where) you're out of the office, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're disconnected from work,” said Whaley, who shares corporate communications advice on TikTok after spending years in those work environments. said himself of the present Matt Galloway.
“So taking the opportunity to say, 'I'm out of the office until I have access to email by Friday, you can't reach me,' is setting boundaries.”
Tech Blurred Work-Life Boundaries: Expert
Statistics Canada data 21.2 percent of Canadian employees reported high levels of work-related stress by 2023, with work-life balance named as the top cause of that stress.
Paola Accettola, CEO of Toronto-based HR consulting firm True North, says she's glad employees are challenging the narrative when it comes to email outside the office.
“We're all trading our time for work, so you might as well have fun doing it,” Accettola said.
Landing out-of-office emails in her inbox, she says, break the traditional mold — specifically by including details about why people are taking a break from work. An early one he noted received was that the sender's entire organization would take a mental health week, for example.
“I appreciate that because I think it's a healthy way to signal to other organizations, not just within your organization, what you really believe,” Accettola said.
Renee Heath, a communications professor at the University of New Hampshire who has researched work-life balance, agrees that these emails are taking away from the work culture. Everything is considered necessary.
There is technology Changing our relationship with work In positive ways, such as making it easier to work from home and giving people more agency in their lives, according to Heath. But the hyper-connectivity that brought emails straight to your smartphone gave birth to a “dark side” where employees were expected to be always accessible, Heath says.
Heath adds that while the line has blurred over the years, on-the-clock and off-the-clock time is a boundary employees are more clearly entitled to and easier to enforce — so why the out-of-office email? A solution is given.
“It's shining a light on how ridiculous it can be sometimes — that we're sitting on the beach and working on our laptops,” Heath said.
Concerns about anti-work attitudes
But not everyone is a fan.
Chris Fanning, a business communication coach and author Effective emailsHe says he's seen out-of-office trends wax and wane throughout the years.
In the early days of digital connectivity, he recalls being able to buy a very long and absurd preset answering machine message that was essentially a long prank on the caller. He also scheduled some informal emails in the early 1990s.
A new law has come into force in Australia, giving most employees the 'right to disconnect' by ignoring calls and emails outside of work hours. A similar plan is in the works in Canada, though some experts warn it won't make much of a difference.
Fast forward 25 years and Fanning says he no longer finds the messages so funny. It's okay to add some personality with details about your vacation spots, but he says some trending examples suffer from a serious lack of professionalism.
“When I get a message from someone saying, 'I'm not at work today, thank God, because my job sucks,' that's a really bad reflection on the whole company,” Fanning said.
While he agrees that part of the OOO trend has to do with work-life balance, he's not sure that's the best way to go about it.
“Actions speak louder,” Fanning said. “The act of not responding is a much better demonstration of your ability to detach from your work than making a big show of it when you're not there.”
Have fun, but don't be a jerk
If you're planning to set up an out-of-office response over the holidays, experts agree that cranking up the sarcasm and anti-work attitude to 100 might not be the best plan.
All communication leaves an impression, Heath says, so senders should be cautious that their automated replies will tell people your email is absent.
“It's like anything you put out into the public world, now somebody else can interpret it the way they want, and so you have less control over how that message is perceived,” Heath said.
Heath says you should try to leave a message that lets the recipient know you're a capable person who deserves a break. “And if it kind of stays in range and … doesn't diminish anyone when you convey that message, then I think you're doing okay,” she said.
TikTok creator Whaley says a good out-of-office message also puts useful bits of information — like who to contact — front and center.
Whatever you write, Fanning says, make it short.
“Don't write War and Peace. Make sure you keep it as to the point as possible.”
