Etiquette experts and career consultants have issued guidance on the construction of automatic out-of-office (OOO) email replies during the peak holiday season. The recommendations emphasize the importance of professional boundaries and clear communication to avoid potential workplace friction or lost business opportunities. According to experts from LinkedIn and the etiquette consultancy Debretts, a functional OOO message should be polite, concise, and provide specific information regarding return dates and alternative points of contact.
The guidance follows reports of workplace complications arising from automated messages. Adam Murfet, a senior sales executive, reported that a former colleague lost a business deal because a client was angered by a joke included in an OOO reply. Professionals are advised to treat automated replies with the same level of scrutiny as standard emails, as recipients may judge the sender based on the content of these messages.
Specific "don'ts" highlighted by Debretts include oversharing personal holiday details or "virtue signaling" about reasons for taking time off, which director Rupert Wesson noted could appear smug to those still working. Experts also warned against using glib or sarcastic humor, such as claiming to delete all incoming emails or stating that the sender is "pretending the company doesn't exist." Paul Fitzsimmons of the law firm Wilford Smith stated that such messages can lead to professional trouble even if intended to be humorous.
For businesses, the scale of the impact is reflected in professional reputations and financial outcomes. As noted in the reporting, a single poorly phrased automated message can lead to the loss of a contract or a damaged client relationship. The move toward managing expectations serves to prevent backlogs and ensure that internal teams are not overwhelmed by misplaced inquiries. Career experts suggest that instead of promising an immediate response upon return, workers should state they will reply "within a few days" to account for the typical volume of missed correspondence.
The next steps for employees involve reviewing their internal and external OOO settings on platforms like Outlook to ensure they are current. Experts recommend verifying that all secondary contact information is accurate and manually disabling the message immediately upon returning to work to avoid appearing disorganized. While no specific deadline for these changes exists, the peak holiday season serves as a primary period for workers to implement these communication standards.