Out-of-Office Voicemail Message: Examples

A good out-of-office voicemail message tells callers four things in under 30 seconds: who they have reached, that you are away, the exact day you are back, and what to do in the meantime. Below are 12 ready-to-record examples for personal leave, business closures, business trips and longer absences, plus advice on naming a backup, saying dates clearly and recording a bilingual version. Loomira is an AI phone assistant for small and mid-sized businesses that is hosted in the EU and answers calls while you are away, turning each one into a written summary. If you are sticking with a recorded greeting, you can adapt any of the texts below in our free voicemail greeting generator.

What should an out-of-office voicemail say?

An out-of-office voicemail message is a temporary greeting that replaces your normal one while you or your business cannot answer calls for a known period. It confirms who the caller has reached, states when normal service resumes and names the fastest alternative for anything that cannot wait.

In practice, that means:

• Your name or business name first, so the caller knows they dialled the right number.
• The return date with weekday and month: "back on Tuesday 3 November", not "back next week". Prefer "back on" to "closed until", because callers cannot tell whether "until Monday" includes Monday.
• One alternative: a colleague, a team number or an email address. Three options read out in a row are hard to remember.
• What to leave, and whether messages will be checked before you return.

Leave out where you are and why: callers don't need it, and you would not announce a three-week trip abroad on your website either.

Which out-of-office messages work for a vacation or annual leave?

On your own line, speak in the first person and give the return date early: callers who remember one detail should remember when you are back.

Which examples work when the whole business is closed?

For a company-wide closure, speak as "we", put the business name first and give the reopening day. If you take orders or bookings, say what happens to messages and emails in the meantime.

If you keep an on-call service running, give that number slowly and repeat it; our after-hours voicemail greeting examples include versions with an urgent line. If you run a medical practice, care service or any business where a caller could be in danger, a return date is not enough: say where to get help in the meantime and name the emergency number for life-threatening situations, which is 112 anywhere in the EU, 999 in the UK and 911 in the US. Your professional body can tell you what the greeting must contain.

What is a good short out-of-office message?

A short greeting works when most callers already know you and there is only one alternative to offer. Fifteen seconds is about 35 words at a normal speaking pace.

What should you say during parental leave or a longer absence?

For absences of several weeks or months, don't invite messages nobody will hear. Point callers to the person or inbox that will handle their request, and keep the reason general: "I'm on leave" is enough. Health details and personal circumstances don't belong on a recording. That is our recommendation rather than a legal rule, and it follows the data minimisation principle of Art. 5(1)(c) GDPR: personal data should be limited to what the purpose requires.

How do I name a colleague as backup?

Ask first. Your colleague should agree to being named and to the number you give out, especially if it is their mobile; a team line is usually better, because someone answers it even when one person is busy. Tell them when your greeting goes live, and check that they aren't away the same week. On the recording, say the name, then the number in small groups, then repeat the number once: callers are often writing it down with one hand.

When should I record it, and when should I remove it?

Record the greeting on your last working day, in a quiet room and a little slower than feels natural, and switch it on when you leave. Then call your own number from another phone: is the date right, is the number clear?

The more common mistake is forgetting to switch back. A greeting that says you are back on 3 November, heard on 10 November, tells callers nobody is minding this phone. If your phone system can schedule greetings, set both dates in advance; if not, add a calendar reminder for the morning you return.

How do I record a bilingual out-of-office greeting?

If you serve callers in more than one language, start with the one most of them speak and give the same essentials in both halves rather than translating word for word. Say the date the way each language does: "Monday 4 January", "Montag, 4. Januar", "lundi 4 janvier". If you are not confident in the second language, ask a native speaker to record that half.

When an AI answers instead of voicemail

A recording can only say that you are away; it cannot answer a question or tell an urgent request from a routine one. An AI phone assistant can take the call, answer from your own information and pass on the rest as a structured message:

When an AI holds the conversation, callers in the EU must be told so: Art. 50 of the EU AI Act requires this disclosure, and the obligation has applied since 2 August 2026. That is why the template says it in the second sentence. Our page on AI transparency explains how Loomira handles the announcement.

With Loomira's AI answering machine, the assistant takes calls while you are away, captures each caller's name, number and request, and sends you a written summary. It does not replace the colleague who makes decisions in your absence; it makes sure nothing gets lost until someone can.