Email replies when out of the office

Sir, – Joanne Hunt’s tips on preparing for holidays from work office are indeed helpful (“How to take holidays from work”, Life, June 30th).

The bravest and most sensible out of office auto-reply I have ever seen was from a client who held a high-ranking position in a blue-chip Japanese company. It went as follows: “I am out of the office for the month of August: all emails sent during this time will be automatically deleted. If your message is important, please resend on September 1st.”

This saved the receipt from trawling through a month of out of date emails. He also informed me that few people resent their message, allowing him to focus on key business priorities after the holidays. – Yours, etc,

ANNA MACKEY,