Dictionary

out-of-office en · NOUN

Etymology

From out of office.

Meanings

1. (Internet) An email auto-reply informing people that the person they are trying to contact is not working and unavailable for an extended period of time.
   • For many of us, turning on an out-of-office is one of the last things to do before going on holiday. It is typically a concise message outlining that you’re on annual leave and who to contact in your absence. But for some gen Z workers, an OOO is becoming another way to add a bit of pizzazz to work culture; a way to showcase their personality, as well as their approach to the office. 2024 July 25, Chloe Mac Donnell, “‘Slay, serve, survive’: How gen Z is rewriting the rules of work”, in The Guardian:
   • There are poetic out-of-offices and humorous (or supposedly humorous) out-of-offices. There are out-of-offices that boast or complain about the person’s likely whereabouts (Bali! Jury duty.). 2015 August 27, Emily Gould, “The Art of the Out-of-Office Reply”, in The New York Times:
   • That doesn’t happen in even the most enlightened workplaces, but nothing makes me feel more patriotic than emailing a French company in summer, getting an out-of-office that sends me to someone else, that person also being en vacances and suggesting a third, whose out-of-office directs me back to the first person. 2023 August 7, Emma Beddington, “Email makes my fingers tingle and my stomach drop with dread. Can’t we go back to pigeons?”, in The Guardian:

Forms