Planned closures and holiday call handling

The decision to make first

A normal opening-hours answer can create false expectations when the office is closed for a holiday but the phone still answers. Use a dated closure instruction that distinguishes office reopening from any separately approved on-call coverage during the closure.

What the handoff should contain

Record the closure dates, reopening time, allowed request types, optional on-call path and the staff owner who approved the message.

Suggested wording to approve

Example wording: “The office is closed for this period and reopens at the time in our current notice. I can follow the published request or on-call instructions.”

Test the difficult case

Test the day before closure, the closed period and reopening, including a caller who asks whether a visit is guaranteed that day. If emergency coverage has not been approved for the closure, do not imply that a regular technician is still monitoring every request.

Worked example

Fictional example: The office closes Friday afternoon and reopens Tuesday morning, with no approved weekend on-call service. The assistant can explain the current notice and capture only the permitted requests. It must not reuse the ordinary after-hours transfer tree or imply that someone will monitor the queue continuously during the closure.

Review it in operation

Review stale closure messages after the holiday and confirm the website, assistant and staff greeting return to the same approved hours.

Check before you launch

• Use a dated closure instruction that distinguishes office reopening from any separately approved on-call coverage during the closure.
• Record the closure dates, reopening time, allowed request types, optional on-call path and the staff owner who approved the message.
• Test the day before closure, the closed period and reopening, including a caller who asks whether a visit is guaranteed that day.
• Review stale closure messages after the holiday and confirm the website, assistant and staff greeting return to the same approved hours.

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