Communication is key for any company, and it’s important to let our clients know when we are not available and who to contact in our absence so that projects can continue as smoothly as possible.

Team members need to ensure that they activate an email autoresponder whenever they are not available (e.g. If they work part-time and are only available certain days), when they are taking any annual leave and where possible when taking any sick leave.

As a general rule, the autoresponder should be on even if you are only going to be away for one day. If you forget to turn on your autoresponder when absent, your email password may be reset to enable other team members to activate your autoresponder and check that any crucial emails from clients or other stakeholders have not been missed. You are accountable for ensuring that your auto-responder is always switched on with an appropriate message whenever required.  Failure to do so can negatively impact other team members and our clients

There are key elements that need to be added to autoresponders so that they can give as much information as possible to the sender:

  1. State the reason why you are away. Please only state work-related reasons for absence; keeping to the following subjects: It is a non-work day (if you work part-time, in which case you should also state the days you are usually available e.g. My usual working days are Tuesdays and Thursdays), you are taking annual leave, in meetings, on a training course, or on sick leave
  2. In most cases where the holidays are planned in advance, you will have a clear starting and finishing date. Please include the date you will return to work, so clients will know when you are next available.

How you word your message will depend on the reasons for your absence and your role in the company, but please use the below examples as a starting point, and adapt these to your needs.

Thank you for your email.

I am on annual leave from 19th Feb to 23rd Feb and will be back at my desk on 26th Feb.

If your enquiry is urgent, please call +44 (0) 207 112 8240 and a member of the team will be happy to help.

You may wish to amend the last line to:

If your enquiry is urgent and you have a support or maintenance contract,  please email your dedicated support email with URGENT in the subject line and we will do our best to help.

Please email [email protected] for everything else support related.

P.S We are the first founding members of Climate Perks and offer extra leave for our employees who opt for green travel.