Posted by wlansden |
Filed under commentary, practice tips
By James Bowden
True story – I was sitting on a plane on my way back from vacationing in Italy last week when I came across an article in the Financial Times about my automatic out-of-the-office reply.
Well, OK, it isn’t about my message specifically; the article is more of a diatribe criticizing people who leave such messages as lazy, useless, irresponsible, passive-aggressive corporate payroll dead weights (who apparently can be identified by the elastic in their waist bands), and suggests that they either a) keep their smart phones cranking and remember not to mistake vacation as time away from work; or b) join the unemployed in the breadlines. Ouch.
I think the author is a) flat wrong; and b) insane. The reason I set an out-of-office message when I go on vacation is to let clients and co-workers know that I will not be responding to emails as rapidly as I normally would. You know, because I might be on an airplane, or in a different time zone, or eating a nice meal, or doing something that might damage my precious Blackberry like going for a swim. But if something is truly important, I’ll get to it as soon as I can given the circumstances. I don’t think that makes me a bad lawyer, or suggests that I am not dedicated to my clients or my career. Actually, I think it indicates the opposite.
An out-of-the-office message provides immediate feedback to a client; the certainty of knowing that someone you are looking for is out of the office surely beats the uncertainty of sending an email which is not promptly returned. If a client is facing a crisis or something time-sensitive, an out-of-the-office message keeps a client in control of their situation (and here’s a hint – a good out-of-the-office message always provides a way to reach you in an emergency). Finally, an out-of-the-office response may help mitigate the risk of being subject to a common complaint registered by clients against attorneys – that the attorney does not communicate with them.
So, to summarize, Tuscany was amazing (see picture) and a certain contributor to the Financial Times may have an unhealthy obsession with trouser waist bands and/or have gone totally bonkers, likely as a result of working without a holiday for too long.
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