5 Reasons To Set An Auto-Reply Email Right After Scheduling a Vacation
Planning a vacation? A short getaway? Perhaps just a staycation? Either way, if you’re taking time away from the office you should schedule your auto-reply email- now!
Why?
Avoid the interruptions
Let’s start with the obvious. No one wants to be bothered on vacation. Maybe you’ve been grinding the last few months and your vacation is the finish line. You deserve to enjoy it.
Although you may have informed your colleagues multiple times that you would be out, they may have forgotten anyway. One of the best ways to avoid those panicky emails or *gasp* a phone call from your boss while you’re out on vacation, is to be prepared and remind everyone that you will be unable to respond to their message until you return. Even better if you have an alternate contact while you’re away (don’t forget to include it in the message)!
An auto-reply email is easy to set and forget. Have your vacation planned out several months in advance? Outlook makes it easy to start and end your auto-reply email at predetermined dates and times. You can set your email to start the second you leave the office (or before, if you prefer), and resume the second you return, if you so desire.
Need help to figure it out? Check out this tutorial on setting up your auto-reply email in Outlook.
Anticipation- the mental reward for an auto-reply email
Who doesn’t look forward to a vacation? The start of your auto-reply email might be the goal post to your weeks or even months long jaunt toward your next adventure.
I find it personally rewarding to set the precise date and time when I will be literally and figuratively out of the office and therefore ready to enjoy my time off.
Anticipation is sometimes its own greatest reward. It can reenergize you and provide the motivation to slay projects at work like no one’s business, or maybe it simply provides you a brighter outlook at work. Either way, anticipation is worth it.
It’s easy to forget to do
Have you ever forgotten to set your auto-reply email and came back to the office to panicky messages and urgent requests? Or maybe you felt a similar frustration when you reached out to someone that you didn’t know was unavailable. These are avoidable, especially if you plan ahead.
Set it and forget it. It will give you the peace of mind and let others know exactly when you’ll be back to respond to their request.
It helps you envision your perfect vacation and turn it into reality
Setting an auto-reply email is the first step towards envisioning my ideal vacation. I like to look ahead in my calendar and figure out exactly when my vacation starts, and from there it’s easy to imagine the next steps.
“OK, so leave the office at 4, go home and start packing for my trip. Take a flight out the next day to Tahiti and be out on the beach soaking in the sun just 24 hours after I leave the office.”
I may or may not be going to Tahiti, but regardless, it is the perfect opportunity to anticipate some time off.
If you can envision it then you can make it happen.
It sets the expectation that you will be gone
Your office mates probably appreciate knowing when you’ll be out on vacation for some period of time. Perhaps they have work that needs your support. Have you ever experienced the frustration of trying to reach someone, only to discover from someone else that they were unavailable?
Set the expectation ahead of time that you’ll be unavailable at such and such date, and this gives people the opportunity to reach out to you ahead of time if something can’t wait until you return.
An auto-reply email may or may not be sufficient to set that expectation, but if nothing else, it’s the good first reminder to you that you may need to put a note down on the office calendar, whiteboard or otherwise to inform your team. Plus, this keeps you accountable to your work and gives others the confidence that you are responsible about completing work prior to your office holiday.
*Bonus*
You might consider this a valuable tool in releasing your shackles from technology, at least where work is considered.
You deserve your vacation- make sure you are getting the full benefit, including anticipation and the lack of interruptions. One of the best ways to start reaping the benefits is by setting your auto-reply email- now!