German’s provided a refreshing way to deal with holiday e-mail

I recently read an article on the BBC website with great interest. It involved German firm Daimler’s alternative approach to dealing with holiday e-mail. Most offices use the same method we do here at the council, a standard out-of-office reply notification. The ramification of this is that we return from leave to an inbox with hundreds, even thousands, of e-mails. It can take a significant amount of time dealing with these e-mails, many, if not the majority, of which will already have been actioned in our absence.

Daimler’s method of dealing with this problem involves auto-deletion of e-mail. That is, instead of the standard “John Smith is away from the office and will return on xx/xx/xx. Please contact Jane Smith on jane.smith@aberdeenshire.gov.uk” message, it will include the additional line: “This e-mail is being deleted. Please contact John Smith on his return or if it’s urgent, the alternative contact provided.”

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this method. It may not be appropriate for certain roles or services and some may find it unprofessional or impolite, however, it may save a large number of work hours being wasted. Please leave me your opinions or suggestions in the comments below.