On the heels of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of personal email for secretary of state correspondence, human resources teams need to ensure their companies are well-versed in proper email decorum. HR leaders should distribute information on best practices for keeping personal and work-related messages separate to avoid potential legal struggles or the loss of reputation. Let's take a look at three examples of email etiquette all workers should be aware of in the office:
1. Be cognizant of culture
While it may be appropriate to write more casually during inter-country communications, companies dealing with clients and employees residing in different parts of the world need to be aware of what is proper in those cultures. Miscommunication can be potentially harmful to these business relationships if the wrong salutation or phrase is used. Instead, employees should tailor their messages to the recipient's cultural background or level of previous interaction and familiarity, according to Business Insider. HR teams should train workers on differences between countries, as well as how to properly start and maintain communication with people with dissimilar traditions and cultures.
"Employees should not send confidential information via email."
2. Only transmit public information
Email is one of the most common business practices to be hacked by outside sources, so it's important for employees to be careful about what materials they're sending. A smart rule of thumb for workers is to only send information they'd feel comfortable discussing in public or writing in a company-wide memo, Inc. magazine suggested. Furthermore, people at all levels of the company should refrain from transmitting confidential materials via email to avoid that data getting into the wrong hands.
3. Don't hit 'send' unless you have the correct response
It's not uncommon for employees to respond to an email in a hasty manner, often with the wrong information. Instead, workers should make it a habit to wait to reply until they know the best answer or solution to the question or topic at hand, U.S. News and World Report recommended. It's acceptable for people to delay their responses as long as they're waiting for the correct data to use. The most important element, however, is sending a short reply to the recipient to let him or her know the requested materials are on their way.
HR teams should create a policy for proper email etiquette. Having a clearly detailed procedure will ensure employees aren't putting the company, its clients or its reputation at risk by sending inappropriate digital correspondence. In addition, HR leaders should include a system for reporting potentially harmful emails so the business can quickly respond to and find a solution for data threats.