Out-of-office emails are getting a refresh — and helping employees set work-life boundaries

An out-of-office email used to only need a few things — the fact that you're away from work, what day you'll return and who to contact in the meantime. 

Not anymore. 

Rather than a copy-and-paste message, employees have given the humble out-of-office reply a revamp. 

"Until Thursday, just pretend I don't exist," reads one shared by Canadian content creator Laura Whaley. She gathered examples submitted by her millions of followers.

Another says, "For any urgent matters, please take a deep breath because only a few are."

The aim is to have some fun with the otherwise short, routine automatic replies. 

Whaley says the sometimes bold or sarcastic comments are more than a means for employees to add a little personality at work — they're a way for people to assert balance between their work and personal lives.

She says it's not uncommon to receive an out-of-office response only to get an actual reply not long after from the person who is supposed to be enjoying a vacation.

"There's kind of this expectation that's been set [where] you're out of office, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're disconnected from work," Whaley, who shares corporate communication advice on TikTok after spending years in those work environments herself, told The Current's Matt Galloway.

"So taking the opportunity to really say 'I'm out of office until Friday with no access to email, you cannot reach me,' is setting boundaries."

Statistics Canada data from 2023 shows that 21.2 per cent of Canadian employees reported high levels of work-related stress, with balancing work and life named as a top cause of that stress.

Paola Accettola, CEO of the Toronto-based HR consulting firm True North, says she's glad that employees are challenging the narrative when it comes to out-of-office emails. 

"We're all exchanging our time for work, so you might as well have fun doing it," Accettola said.

She says more of the out-of-office emails landing in her inbox break the traditional mould — especially by including details about why people are taking a break from work. An early one she remembers receiving noted that the sender's entire organization would be taking a mental health week, for example.