Guidelines for Out of Office messages

Out Of Office Assistant is an invaluable tool which can be used to manage expectations and provide a smooth operating turnover of current tasks. One should be very careful not to provide too much information in the Out Of Office Message in order to avoid phishing attacks against you or your company. Please remember that anyone on the Internet can send you an email message and obtain the information you freely provided to them.

Best practices for Out Of Office Messages

• Keep the message as brief as possible
• Provide as little personal information as necessary
• Do not list your personal email address
• Do not list unnecessary information for someone to reach you like your home, friend's, relatives, or hotel phone numbers
• Such information can be used to commit credit card fraud
• Do not say that you will be out on vacation or travelling to a distant place
• Do list one alternative way of contacting you, only if you feel that it necessary
• Provide as few internal contacts as possible
• Do not list everyone in your department
• Do provide a single point of contact that will be able to address your contact's needs
• Avoid providing alternative electronic means of dealing with your company
• Do not list your colleague's emails - they can be used for spam
• Do not list your non public facing systems
• Do not say, for example, "To pay your outstanding bill please logon to Our Bank X with your account"

Sample messages for templates

• “I am out of the office from June 1 to June 6 and will not be checking for messages.”
• “I am out of the office June 1 to June 6 and will not be checking for messages. For any emergency questions please call our main telephone number at (212) 555-1212 and select Option 5.”
• “I am out of the office from June 1 to June 6 and will have intermittent access to both email and voicemail while I am out. For any immediate assistance, please contact Bill at (212) 555-1212.”
• “I am out of the office from June 1 to June 6 and will have periodic access to email. For any immediate assistance, please call me on my cell at (212) 555-1212.”

If you feel that your account has been compromised, please contact support as soon as possible.