As a much anticipated break for most of us, Christmas and New Year holds a lot of promise but also makes for much more work and expense for many. All shoe horned into a frantic few days whilst you are also trying to finish everything off in the office. So having finally made it, did you suffer that rush of panic – did I remember to write and switch on my Out of Office email?

Not everyone of course has Christmas off, but in the dental industry, barring surgery emergencies, we are usually fortunate enough to enjoy a fairly lengthy break. However spare a thought when penning your little absence note that not everyone will be delighted you are not there.

There are no strict rules and regs in content or including images, but etiquette would suggest things to avoid are sounding unhelpful e.g. ‘We are closed and cannot to respond to your email’, providing way too much detail or being far too over familiar. Remember the recipient may be someone who you have not corresponded with ever before. Including an image may be appropriate for your company. We know here at Prestige, that anything that features our staff is always way more popular, more read and more liked as our Xmas Greeting image below proved on social media. However the biggest faux pas has to be the unspotted typo in the message – and yes we have probably all done that!

So the best course of action would seem to be stay concise, include the specifics about when you are back and who else to contact as appropriate if you are on a longer break than the rest of the office.

Good luck!