Guest Author - J. Lynn
Email has made communicating at work much easier than days past. Though we have access to email from work, it is important to remember that all those email and the computer they come from belong to the company. For that reason, you should know that sending email can cost you your job.
We have all heard the stories of the employee that gets a great joke email, adds a few choice comments likening the character in the joke to another co-worker or heaven forbid, their supervisor and intending to send to a few friends, ends up sending the email to the entire company. Within days, that employee is a ghost that people rarely remember after their quick trip to Human resources to sign their resignation documents, but no one can forget the tale.
There are lessons to be learned with that story:
• Never, Never, Never hit reply to all. If you are replying to an email, you might not know who the original sender sent the email to and may inadvertently reply to the wrong people.
• Do not send an email without carefully checking the ‘Send’ or ‘To’ lines to verify that you really intend to correspond with those people and the contents of your message is appropriate for the audience it is being delivered to.
• Remember that company email is intended for company business. It isn’t for joke emails that you share with friends and though it is convenient, it really isn’t appropriate for any personal communications to anyone outside of the company or not related to business.
• Keep in mind that the since the company owns the computer, they essentially own the correspondence sent and received with that email program as well. Be careful to never forward or reply to anything that you wouldn’t want to be repeated in front of the entire company because that is a real risk and possibility.
• Since the company owns the computer and email, they can also monitor it. Abuse of email has caused many an employee to be sent to the unemployment line. Anything you say in email can be cause for your dismissal and can be used as evidence against you, so no snide remarks to the guy in payroll when your check gets shorted a few cents. Use professional language and professional tone in your emails to stay on the good side of the guy in the basement watching your every move. Do not put smilie faces or symbols in your email. The company hired an adult and they expect you to act accordingly.
• K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, silly. Use a clear and concise Subject line and keep your message simple and to the point. Show good netiquette by notifying all recipients of your emails if you have added an attachment or need a reply by a certain deadline.
• Never send joke emails and delete the ones you receive. Do not forward them on to other co-workers either. Remember that every joke makes fun of someone or something so you never know who you might be offending.
• Use the Urgent flag sparingly. When someone receives an urgent email from another co-worker internally in their company, they often wonder if the message was really Urgent, then why wouldn’t the sender have called them or made their way to their desk for resolution. It could cause unnecessary alarm or be ignored completely.
• Misc.Tips- Quote prior emails when relevant, but only the relevant portion, otherwise messages can get outrageously and needlessly long when forwarded. Attach a signature line that provides your name, telephone number and position in the company to answer the questions of anyone that might not know that information when receiving your email. Do not put entire messages in capital letters as it is considered shouting and can be misinterpreted. See the same message on color and font choices.
Once an email is sent, it’s almost impossible to retrieve it, but in some cases it is possible, depending on your company network options. If you are using Outlook or similar software, you can retrieve a sent email by opening the “Sent Item” folder and double clicking on the email you want to recall. Once in the open email, go too “Actions”, and choose the “Recall this message” option. There you will be given a choice to either delete unread copies of the email or delete unread copies and be able to replace it with another if you choose to.
If someone has already read the email, you will not be able to recall it, but in a scenario like the Ghost employee discussed here, it is still best to try to get it out of as many hands as possible.
Happy Emailing!
