The proliferation of email as a standard mode of business communication necessitates an introduction of the medium and guidelines for all staff on how to use this communication channel.
The following guidelines are suggested as issues of good practice to be considered by an organisation when making use of email systems. They are applicable for both creators and recipients of email.
Email etiquette
Never send libellous, defamatory, potentially harassing, pornographic, or abusive messages or images.
Always consider the commercial, political or staff sensitivity and confidentiality of any messages and attachments. Additional or alternative security processes must be used where confidentiality is a business concern.
Email restrictions
The increasing number of emails being sent and size of attachments may impair the performance of an organisation’s system. If this is the case then it is worth making it clear to users the maximum size of any email.
Receiving messages in the written word does not allow for feedback loops, tonality or body language to provide context. Thus there is little control over how messages are interpreted.
If a message is sent by email, it is often assumed that it has been received, read and acted upon.
Surveys have shown that more than 65% of all email messages fail to leave receivers with sufficient information to enable action based on that email.
Legal and security
Legal and regulatory controls apply equally to email as to other information processes. In some cases, such as for the protection of personal data, these controls can be very strict. Remember the following:
Standard email is not a secure way of doing business; just as with faxes, the technology makes it very easy to send it to an unintended recipient, with potentially severe consequences, particularly if it is copied outside the organisation.
Current systems allow emails to be changed or edited if they are forwarded within or to another organisation. If there is any doubt as to original content of a message or attachment, do check with the original author before acting on the information.
Global emails
A global email facility addresses an email to every member of that organisation with an email address. It is a great way to receive multiple replies, but can also lead to unwanted responses.
The use of global emails should be tightly controlled to avoid inappropriate use, because this address will potentially send an email to thousands of email users within the organisation.
The inappropriate use of global emails will have a massive impact on the mail network infrastructure, resulting in a significant reduction in the performance of the overall mail systems.
To minimise this impact, global email messages should follow the points noted below.
Global email messages should only be used for business purposes. Make sure the distribution list is the right one and delete any unique lists made if they are no longer needed.
Message senders should be sure that everyone wants or needs to read this message.
Never attach files (documents) to global emails. It is better to place a copy of the file onto the intranet or a shared area of your server, and send a message to all users detailing its location.
Chain emails
Staff should be advised that ‘chain’ email or similar messages received internally or from the internet, which are not related to their work, and/or an organisation’s approved distributed information, should never be forwarded. These emails take up valuable people and system resources.
Don’t reply to general information or subscribe to ‘news’ services.
Viruses
The details of virus-checking systems and guidelines for use of these should be provided to users by the organisation.
Reading and receiving email
Some suggested guidelines for users:
Do not necessarily answer your email when you first arrive at the office. Instead, scan it for anything that must be handled immediately – check for messages that appear to have an important subject, are flagged for action or are marked as important.
Set aside specific times in the day to look at your emails or use the odd few minutes that you may have during the day. You can change your email settings to allow you to set the frequency the email application checks for new mail. Lengthening the time will allow less frequent interruptions.
If you receive a large number of emails, read the headings first. If your senders use good ‘subject titles’, you will probably have a good idea of what the contents are! You can even set your inbox to display the first part of each message so you can prioritise easily.
Set up folders for your emails and file them according to their subject in relation to jobs that you are currently working on. As with paper, ask first: ‘Do I need to keep this document?’ If you do, file it in the appropriate folder after it has been dealt with. If the answer is no, delete it!
Reduce the prominence of email interruptions by disabling sound alerts and the alert dialogue box.
Ask to be removed from mailing lists if you receive unnecessary mail.
Make it a regular small task to go through all the old emails you have stored and delete those that are now extraneous.
Writing emails
Make sure email is the appropriate medium for your message. If it is contentious, ambiguous, subtle, complex, debateable or needs clarification, do not use email.
Put subject headers on all emails, to make it immediately clear what the email is about.
Copy colleagues in on emails to customers or other key stakeholders if they need to be kept informed.
Avoid the use of slang, sarcasm or humour in professional emails, to prevent misunderstandings.
Keep emails short, concise and to-the-point. If sending a lot of information, break up the email into separate, easy to read paragraphs.
Put your name, job title and contact details at the bottom of all emails (use a standard signature).
Check spelling, grammar and punctuation before pressing 'send'.
Reference:
Tony Dunk ‘Email: are trainers a cause or effect?’ Training Journal (January 2004), pp 38-41.
Thomas Jackson, Ray Dawson & Darren Wilson ‘Reducing the effect of email interruptions on employees’ International Journal of Information Management Volume 23, Issue 1
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