The out-of-office message is polite: โI will have limited access to email.โ Notifications are silenced. The laptop is packed away. All systems are โoff.โ
Seventeen minutes later, the inbox gets checked.
In modern wealth management, out-of-office no longer means unavailable.
Instead, it signals something else entirely:
- Response times might slow.
- Messages will still be read.
- Replies may come with less punctuation, but they will come.
The boundary between presence and absence has becomeโฆ negotiable. Devices blur the line. So do expectations.
Rather than returning to 473 unread emails, a few quick scans keep things โunder control.โ One message is forwarded, one note is replied to, and one approval is sentโjust in case, just enough to stay connected.
Today, Out-of-the-Office functions more like tone management than true disconnection. It provides context and softens delays. But in truth, access is always there. It travels with usโin pockets and palms.
In this landscape, being โawayโ isnโt about switching off. Itโs about managing visibility, focus, and trust โ from a distance.
๐ง Sunday school holiday thought:
True clarity does not come from saying, โIโm out,โ but from building systems that workโeven when we step back. Sometimes, an OOO message isnโt written for others. Itโs a quiet prompt to ourselves.
Source: LinkedIn
