What does OOO mean in 2020?

It’s autumn, yes, ‘summer’ has melted by and we’ve been ACTUALLY literally ‘Out of Office’ since March. Technically, we’ve still been hard at work, but the ‘new normal’ office is shared with dining tables, dogs and people who are not your colleagues. You’ve got a new bond with the delivery driver although they are not keen to hang around the virtual water cooler to hear the latest goss* on Sharon.

Out of offices have always been an opportunity to share a little personality alongside the essential dates and a forwarding address. As a company we were rather fond of geo-tagging our sentiments…

I’m out of office in Tokyo, sampling sushi and sipping sake. I’ll be back once the cherry blossom stops blooming.

We offer up our A-team’s contact details, and Mr. T will dutifully tap those gold encrusted digits and reply with speed. Furloughed staff brought the option to create something a little more artful for the longer duration, props to Astley…

Thank you for your email.
Never gonna give you up, Never gonna let you down, Never gonna run around and desert you, Never gonna make you cry, Never gonna say goodbye, Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
I’m also never gonna reply to your message until hopefully sometime soon as I’m on furlough leave. However you can forward your email …

So, in the era of constant and instant communication where does the OOO now stand? And as holidays have not all gone as planned this year, are we ‘out-of-kitchen island come office’ instead? We propose it’s time to transition to OME (off my emails).

Colleagues,
I am on a short trip to Barnard Castle to frolic in the bluebells. I will not be checking my email during this time.
Looking forward to catching up on my return.

Reader, I will realistically still be checking my emails, just as soon as I can get an eye test.

*Too graphic to post here.

Posted on September 17, 2020