Colleague discovers wacky out-of-office 'video presentation' and it's peak Gen Z

Everyone is reminiscing about the time they were out of the office during the holidays. Surely, we all have our ways of conveying the message, but people seldom do it like Gen Z marketing employee, Josh (@joshfrommarketing). In a video shared on TikTok just before he could embark on a trip to Europe, the man decided to share an out-of-office message for all staff and clients. Sounds pretty professional, right? But he did it with a video presentation, and all we can say is that it’s honest and accurate. Thanks to his idea, employees want to get creative in letting people know they’re away from work. 

Josh went all out to make his message the perfect dose of hilarious, sassy, and professional. It opens with the audio of an intercom announcement played during a flight, along with visuals of a plane’s wing mid-flight — a perfect hint to his traveling and vacation. “If you’re watching this, I’m probably on a plane to Europe right now,” the employee says, as he appears in the frame. The next shot is immediately cut to Josh on a bench, with an airplane swooshing right by him. He then came straight to the point, to answer any “frequently asked questions” about his absence or work. The first one, “When will I be back?” was immediately ignored with no response.

It was likely the employee’s way of saying he didn’t want to be interrupted by having to think about resuming work while on vacation. With lightning speed, he moved to the next question — quite a bold one. “If you’re a recruiter…” This man was not hesitating. He provided his personal email to anyone with better job opportunities. Yes, his colleagues and maybe even his boss would be seeing this too. Quite a courageous play there. Lastly, he said, “For urgent queries, send me an email, and I’ll look at it when I get back.” This employee was not playing around with his work-life balance. When he said he was on vacation, he meant he was on vacation. 

Josh also shared a couple of other out-of-office videos, one being his excited and early out-of-office email showing up on the marketing billboard in the middle of a pitch. This showed just how much he was awaiting the holidays… we certainly hope he’s back now, can’t have it without the talent. Another video featured the worker on FaceTime with another colleague who caught him red-handed sending an out-of-office email to clients way ahead of the holidays. Though meant for pure humor, it perfectly summarizes every corporation’s mood during the festive season. 

Harvard Business Review compiled 5 tips from professionals to ensure your out-of-office message is fun, creative, and professional at the same time. Ellen Desmarais, co-president at Harvard Business Publishing, suggested having fun with your message. For her, this looks like making the message fun to read and giving clients or staff something in the meantime. In one of her messages, she shared she was on vacation and also included one of their website’s articles to glance through the wait. Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s message featured in The Atlantic is funny and hard-hitting: “I am currently on vacation and not accepting any emails about anything. I’m not planning on reading any old emails when I get back, either, because that feels antithetical to the vacation experience.” 

Ron Shevlin, senior contributor at Forbes, heavily dislikes emails and thinks they're the biggest problem. "The out-of-office message is simply an excuse for not responding promptly to emails. Personally, I’m thinking of leaving my out-of-office message response on permanently." For Shevlin, the O-O-O message is a saving grace. "[It] buys me time to respond to the endless stream of requests from people who want something from me." Josh’s creativity was met with applause from various employees and brands. @tommyhilfiger wrote, “Josh is just living life.” @stringcheese12345 added, “This is inspirational.” 

You can follow Josh (@joshfrommarketing) on TikTok for more content on corporate humor.

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