Email Etiquette
Most of us have been taught—and some have
actually mastered—business etiquette for meetings
and telephone calls. That leaves the spotlight
on email and with it, the new rules governing how
to properly leverage the medium for business.
Email works well when you want to deliver a
message quickly or you want to avoid the cost of
a long-distance phone call. It’s also a top choice
for communicating with business colleagues
during off-hours, from another time zone, or
when you want to deliver the same message to
multiple readers. Email is not a good fit, however,
when the message is extremely important
or confidential, or when you’re in the midst of a
give-and-take negotiation. It’s also advisable to
avoid email when you want to discuss an emotionally
charged matter.
Some business etiquette tips:
-
Keep Formatting Simple. Do not use all capital
letters. The latter is considered by most to be
rude—the online equivalent of screaming.
-
Always proofread a message before you send it.
Be on the lookout not only for spelling errors and
grammatical mistakes, but also
tone and manner. Even a third
read-through is advisable.
-
Consider email as you would
company records.
Make sure
employees know that management
reserves the right to monitor
and read employee email.
Encourage them to use email
as little as possible for personal
use, and when they do, to
include the minimal amount of
personal information.
As a small business
owner, it’s your responsibility to provide
employees with guidelines surrounding email.
According to the ePolicy Institute, based in
Columbus, OH, every business, regardless of
its size, should have a written email and
Internet policy for its employees and to safeguard
itself from liabilities. The ePolicy
Institute recommends reviewing the policies
with all employees and contract workers and
incorporating the documents into your
employee handbook. It also advises against
communicating those policies through email
and making employees responsible for their
own training.
It’s not just a matter of bad manners—you’re
ultimately liable if there are any missteps. And
like any kind of bad behavior, lousy email etiquette
is a poor reflection on the business. BA
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