The Current - Why employees are shaking up their out-of-office replies

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

Out-of-office messages have become more than a handful of dates and the email of who to reach out to instead while you’re gone. A Canadian content creator tells us how the messages are becoming a site of creativity — and a new way to assert work-life balance.

In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news, so I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with Season 3 of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy.

On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. Not long from now, many of us will be signing off from work for a little bit of rest and relaxation over the holidays, which might mean adding an out-of-office reply to your work email. You know, there was a time when that was a pretty standard affair. I'm away from this date to that date, please contact so-and-so in my absence. Well, not anymore. I just had an automatic response from a meeting request I sent out for managers from my boss. Please beware that I'm on leave. I will have

limited motivation to check emails and significantly reduced inclination to answer mobile calls during this time and would suggest that they wait until my return. Freaking love doctors. It's a TikTok post by an Australian named Carly. Out of office TikTok, it turns out, is a pretty active corner of the internet. People are getting more creative and they seem to be introducing more boundaries to their out of office replies. Here is a TikToker named Bee Hills. Welcome to a new series I'm starting on my boss's out of office messages. Here's the one I just got for today. Oh shoot, you need something and I'm unavailable today. Here's the good news. You have options. Option one, wait it out. Ask yourself, is this urgent and important? If it isn't, take a beat

and give me a chance to respond after I dig myself out of my inbox later this week. You and I will be better off with this expectation set now. Option two, get help sooner. If you answered yes to the above question, don't wait. I have a team of competent humans who look out for me and one another. They can help you too. Work with, insert names here, accordingly. If you need help with scheduling, cut straight to my assistant. Option three, if it's an inferno, skip the line. Is everything burning and only a master of existential threats could help? First, flattered you even contacted me. Now get going and contact my supervisor. He is the elusive one you are looking for. Oh my god, she is so great. Messages don't always have to be long and involved to be effective. Here are a few

more examples, courtesy of the Canadian content creator Laura Whaley, also known as your virtual work bestie on TikTok and Instagram. I hope you're enjoying your break from me as much as I'm enjoying mine from you. Until Thursday, just pretend I don't exist. I'm on leave. Do not bother me again until Monday. Feel free to reach out to literally anybody else. If you need me, well, that's unfortunate timing. Try one of these people instead. Laura has a business degree, spent several years in the corporate world, and then found a massive following on social media, taking on workplace issues

and helping people think differently about workplace communication, boundaries, and self-care. Laura Whaley is in Victoria. Laura, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Don't bother me again until Monday. That's a pretty blunt message on the out of office. Yeah, that's definitely a bold way to bring it into your out of office message. I think a lot of people, myself included, I mean, for a long time, my focus was just making sure that I got the dates right in my out of office thing so I didn't screw things up and have somebody's email incorrect in terms of who they might want to talk to. When did you think that an out-of-office message was actually worth something, you know, worth paying attention to and worth time that you would dedicate to?

Yeah, I think, you know, there's an opportunity with out-of-office messages to add a little flair, a little personality to it. I remember early on in my career, it was very copy and paste, you know, like you said, the dates, you give them the bare minimum information that they need. And now we're kind of seeing a shift to potentially getting a little more creative, maybe more expectation setting boundaries, if you will, which, you know, comes at pros and cons, depending on the message itself and how, you know, out there you kind of want to take it. But it's been interesting to see the, you know, entertaining spin that people have kind of want to take it. But it's been interesting to see the, you know, entertaining spin that people have kind of used on their out of office or taken that opportunity to do so. You have many millions of people who follow you on social media. When you floated this idea out,

what sort of response did you get from your followers? I got thousands. I do it quite often too. I kind of toss it out there of, you know, send me any entertaining or iconic or maybe out of office messages that made you cringe a little. And then I get sent thousands of them and they keep, they keep on pouring in. And I don't know if they're getting more creative, but they're definitely getting more entertaining. Why do you think people are experimenting with something that really, I mean, at its basis is really just about a piece of information. I'm not here, here's who to talk to.

I think a big driver for it is the expectation setting when it comes to out-of-office messages. That's a big piece of value that I see within them. Because there's oftentimes in our careers where we receive an out-of-office message from someone. They're not back until Friday. You're emailing them on a Tuesday. Suddenly, they respond on a Wednesday. And so there's kind of this expectation that's been set of you're out of office, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're disconnected from work. And so taking the opportunity to really say I'm out of office until Friday with no access to email, you cannot reach me, is more of that expectation setting boundaries surrounding out of office messages. Is this really a place for creativity, do you think? setting boundaries surrounding out-of-office messages.

Is this really a place for creativity, do you think? You know, I think it's up to the individual to decide what kind of personality they want to have within their professional reputation. And out-of-office messages are a place where you could display that, you know, personality a little bit if you'd like to. We're going to hear some specific ones. But broadly, when you think of tone, I mean, some. We're going to hear some specific ones, but broadly, when you think of tone, I mean, some of these, and I'd read that one, but you know, don't contact me again until Monday. Some of them are really blunt. Some of them are funny. Some have a bit of snark to

them. Is there a tone that works best, do you think? You know, tone's an interesting one because it's very dependent on the reader and how they kind of interpret it. And so what you might interpret as being quite bold, I might interpret a different way. So it's definitely something you want to keep in mind when you are setting an out-of-office message is, you know, how's the receiver going to interpret this? Is it going to come across as rude or is it rather going to come across as, you know, funny and snarky? When it comes to tone, I think, you know, really pulling to the forefront the helpful information within an out-of-office message. I love when people kind of give you a solution within it to say, well, here's who you can contact versus just saying, nope, can't contact me, I'm out of office, period. I think that the information you provide adds quite a bit to the tone as well.

I'm out of the office having way more fun than communicating with you. I will likely forget to email you back was one out-of-off office response that was circulating online. Does that fit the bill? Yeah, not something I would personally go with. It kind of, you know, gives that tone of like some superiority, like I'm doing something and you're irrelevant. Yeah, it wouldn't be the first one I would go to for an out of office message. Okay, so I want to play, because you've been rating these, I want to play a few examples and you can tell us what they're doing. Right. This is you reading these examples and this one, we should say, yeah, this got a perfect score. For any urgent matters, please take a deep breath because only a few are 10 out of 10. So why does that, why does that

deserve a perfect score? You know, I like that one. I like it because it's a reminder that, you know, in a world of society that is everything feels urgent these days, especially in a workplace, it kind of stops you and your tracks to say, okay, you know, is this actually something that needs to be addressed now? Or can it remain unaddressed until this person returns? And so that one gave me a chuckle. And I thought the tone of that one was quite cute. I mean, it does speak to that issue of urgency, right? We live in this culture where it's a culture of response in some ways. If I send you something, my expectation is that you're going to get back to me. It doesn't matter where you are or what time it is.

The expectation if I'm sending something is that you're going to respond. Yeah, absolutely. And that email too, I do remember that one, went on to kind of give options as well. If things were urgent or not, it was more helpful than just that blurt there, but I did find that one quite funny. How should we rethink urgency? Not everything is a five alarm fire. Yeah. Well, the thing I always come back to is, you know, if everything's urgent, then nothing's urgent. And really that's kind of what I live true by now of, you know, every email can't possibly be urgent. Every work test can't possibly be urgent. Just doing that check-in of like, is this actually something that needs to

be addressed now? Or is my brain trying to convince me that it does because we've, you know, come to this norm of everything in life is urgent and needs to be done immediately. Okay. Here's another example. Gone camping. Do I have access to the internet? Yes. Am I going to use to respond to your email? No. Be back on Wednesday, 8 out of 10. Okay, so is it okay to tell people that you are unreachable, you will not be responding, I understand that you are sending this message, but I'm not going to get back to you? Yeah, I think that that one is a strong way to set expectations, especially because we're so digitally connected these days. And so letting people know, yeah, I have access to the internet. So if they happen to see something you're posting on socials or something else,

it doesn't give them a right to pick, oh, they're still accessible. I'm going to contact them for this work thing. All right. Here's one more. This email is invalid and your email has been discarded. Please try again in 10 days, eight out of 10. So I had a friend, he worked, I can't say too much because he worked for government and that's in some ways what his out of ten. So I had a friend, he worked, I can't say too much because he worked for government. And that's in some ways what his out of office said, that the email that you have sent, he's away. The email that you have sent has been destroyed. Just get back to him when he returns. Yeah, that's a common one you're seeing now or talked about, especially online, is this idea of just doing a mass delete when you return after being

out of office and then anything that's important will get followed up on. That's an interesting one because it comes to the topic of returning from vacation or time off from work and how overwhelming it can be to come to an inbox full of hundreds, potentially thousands of emails and then spending your next two to three business days just trying to get through them. This is a strategy I've seen encouraged and this is a strategy I've also seen more hesitation on when it comes to out of office. But some people will even start before they are back from holiday, start getting ahead of the inbox, knowing that this bulging email inbox is waiting for them when they turn their computer back on on Monday. Yeah, absolutely. It's very overwhelming, especially if you're trying to navigate all

of the meeting invites that you've had. Maybe your first couple of days are just slammed full of meetings. When do you have time to go through the inbox? Are you going to miss any new things that come through? I mentioned that, I mean, out of office, TikTok is a huge part of the internet. And one of the things that you see in that corner is talk around generational differences. This is Bonnie Dilber, who is a TikToker, self-described elder millennial, talking about the kinds of messages you used to send a decade or so ago. Look at what I say. One, I say slower to respond. I don't say like you will not hear from me. I'm just going to be slower to respond. And then I gave them my

cell phone for a quicker response. Literally while I was on at these like conferences where you'd be like busy for 12 hours a day and on an actual personal vacation, I was giving people my cell phone in case they needed to get like a hold of me faster. That's wild. I get out of offices from Gen Z and it's like, I'm out of office. Like that's it. I'll be back on December 15th or whatever. And I'm really glad to be working in from Gen Z and it's like, I'm out of office. Like, that's it. I'll be back on December 15th or whatever. But I'm really glad to be working in like Gen Z's world now and benefiting from the shifts in workplace culture that they have brought us. Do you see a generational difference there?

I see more of a shift within the culture and not necessarily within generation. I think it's more tied to when you entered the workforce and kind of the norms that were seen at those times. And now what we're seeing, that culture shift going more to setting these boundaries between work and personal time, not giving out your personal number to be reached, you know, when you're out of office. from a generational perspective and more so just from a mindset around society, around the workplace and culture. Because you can see, you know, the stereotypical Gen Z mindset presenting in different generations, older generations as well. And so to kind of group it specifically into generations I try to stay away from and more so the time point of when you entered the workforce and what the culture was then. And then you kind of shift and move along and adjust as things change. And I mean, just larger, just finally, it's just a larger shift in some ways in terms of our relationship with work and our relationship with jobs. That if you are on holiday or you're on vacation or you're out of the office, that it's okay now to say that you're not working.

Absolutely. say that you're not working. Absolutely. And when you see that, especially from, you know, managers and people within higher roles within a company, you see them being okay to disconnect fully when they're on vacation. It kind of gives you, it makes you feel a lot more safe in doing that. It kind of allows or helps build towards the culture of it is okay to do that. You don't need to be connected 24 seven. And when you see other people doing that within the workplace, it encourages you to also follow suit. If I email you over the holidays, what will I get back? Oh gosh, I haven't, you know, I've been going through some out of office holiday version inspiration. So I haven't quite landed on one yet, but I'll talk to you in the new year.

Basically, I'll get back to you when I get back to you. Laura, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Laura Whaley is a Canadian content creator who posts on Instagram and TikTok. As your virtual work bestie, she was in Victoria. What are your plans for the out-of-office message this holiday season?

Have you changed your approach? Are you bringing some creativity to this, that idea of don't get back to me until 2025? Is that appealing to you? Can you say that in your office? And what does this say? I mean, this is about actually disconnecting, as we were saying. People will put the out of office on, but they might still have to look at the email. What does it say about the relationship between work and the rest of your life? If you have inspiration for a good out of office reply, you can email us at thecurrentatcbc.ca.

Here's a bit more inspiration from Laura Whaley's out-of-office messages, the holiday edition. Ho, ho, hold that thought until January 2nd. Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color? Just kidding. I'm out of office, but here's a Christmas playlist for you to enjoy until I return. Santa doesn't deliver emails over the holidays, so I will not receive your message until I am back. You'll have to jingle your own bells until next year as I'm out of office for the holidays. Away and wishing you a tree-mendous holiday and start to 2025.

All emails received from now until December 31st will remain in 2024. If your email is important, please follow up next year. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.