There’s nothing like having to go through a thousand unread emails to completely destroy your chilled out post-holiday mood.
However one legend woman has come up with the perfect out of office email reply to ensure that never happens again.
“I don’t want to talk about my email situation, it’s bad. But the other day I heard something that gave me hope,” Mamamia Out Loud host Monique Bowley shared on the podcast this week.
“This woman went on annual leave and her out of office reply was ‘Dear everyone, I’ve gone on annual leave and when I come back, I’m deleting every single email in this inbox. Goodbye. See you in four weeks’.”
Brilliant.
“So she gets to come back, she’s warned everyone, she comes back, detonates her whole email strategy then just gets to start with a clean slate,” she said.
Image: iStock
Radio and Nitty Gritty Committee podcast host Meshel Laurie also recently employed a similar tactic, going straight for the mass delete of 13,000 emails that amassed in her inbox while she was away.
However Mamamia senior editor Jackie Lunn isn't a fan.
"I'd miss something that was really crucial to one of the kids because I get all the admin stuff and then they'll be like 'Mum I didn't make it into the netball team because I never went to the training' because it was one of the 13,000 emails I just mass deleted." she said.
And if you don't want to receive as many emails when you're at work, there's also a couple of hacks you can try.
"Watch your greeting. Research has found emails that end with 'Thanks in advance' are most likely to get a response," says Monique.
Jackie suggests getting straight to the point.
"Ditch the 'Hello, I hope you're well', I hate that. If you can put the entire question or what you want from that email in the subject line, do that," she says.
It's direct and gives a sense of immediacy.
And of course, if you're emailing someone in the workplace and can do it in person - do it in person.
Listen: It's a bumper episode of Mamamia Out Loud this week. Enjoy.
Top Comments
We couldn't do that in our workplace for a number of reasons, one being that it's so rude. I will write emails to people I know are away, because I can't afford to forget it and when they are back I would like them to know it is something that needs dealing with so they can shedule it in. All an email like that is going to do is make people save their emails until the day you get back and bombard you all in one go, or worse call you instead.
I am of the understanding when you get back to work, you are there to work. You should work as hard the day you get back from leave as any other day, you are being paid 100% to put in 100%. It's not up to your workmates to continue to pick up your slack because you want to enjoy your "post-holiday vibe".
That out of office reply seems a bit redundant. I mean, no one will get the reply unless they send an email.