Survey for Recruiters & Hiring Managers

Survey for AIM MBA (16 month) and MM on Employment Status

Survey for AIM MBM/MBA graduates only on Action Consultancy & MRR

Electronic Mail Etiquette

As a recruiter and HR practitioner, I always remind employees about HR rules and regulations (because I care, and also for the obvious selfish reason that I don’t want my attrition to go up). One of the rules that are usually discussed during orientations in most companies is email decorum – I doubt any business today can survive without email unless you’re Old Man Jenkins, and I doubt any employee can survive without using proper email decorum.

During my time with a BPO, there was this one employee, let’s call him Guy A, who was given a commendation by his team leader on an email addressed to the team. Another member of his team, Guy B - fairly new and fresh out of client training - replied to the email with four words: “GOOD JOB, SNOW* JOB!” (*I know you know that word isn’t snow)

I guess everyone on that team was comfortable with that kind of language. But it just so happened that the email was sent to “All”. And since I worked for a global company, everyone from Manila to Arizona got Guy B’s message loud and clear. It was funny, until it became a serious disciplinary action I guess. I don’t think Guy B was aware of what he did until it was spelled out to him.

So what is proper email decorum at work, you might ask? Well, based on experience and from the numerous sources out there, these following tips sure help:

• If you can say it nicely, then say it nicely (don’t be a beach)
• Fill in the subject line; you don’t want it to stay forever in someone’s inbox because they didn’t bother reading your un-titled message
• DON’T CAPITALIZE YOUR LETTERS – IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING!
• Don’t send chain-mail (especially to me)
• Don’t send racy jokes at work that could offend someone; if you don’t know if something is offensive, have yourself checked too
• Be discreet and don’t gossip at work especially on email. Dude, your name is traceable. But hey, did you hear about the time ____ and _____ did the ____? (you have a dirty mind…)
• Don’t use email as a substitute during difficult issues that require face-to-face discussion, like how do you remove your officemate’s necktie from the printer feeder?
• Don’t use your work email for personal messages (that’s why Facebook was invented, duh)
• Use pRopEr puncTuation and Full sentenc
• Be brief – K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid, I mean, Keep It Short and Simple)
• Avoid unnecessary comments/opinions
• Don’t use emoticons, ok? ;-)
• Answer emails ASAP (I try to respond to my students within 24 hours. I said I try)
• Full greetings and salutations are necessary. You can start with “Greetings and Salutations” and end with “May the Force be with you” (or just use “Dear Mr. “and end with “Best Regards, “)
• Write down your thoughts so that it can help you capture the essence of your email.
• You should read the email and then refine it (again, KISS).
• Use an appropriate email signature (with designation and company address/contact info – just make sure the signature won’t be larger than the message)
• Review your email before hitting send (do your best impersonation of an MSWord spellcheck while you’re at it) and make sure you’re sending it to the right people and that it is virus-free

Also, if you make an honest mistake, don’t be afraid to recall the email (you can do this on MS Outlook) or apologize to the recipient about any error (just apologize ASAP). Nobody’s perfect anyway, but the problem really is if you didn’t even know that you made an error. Don’t be like Guy B (I was so glad he was not my hire).

Alonto for the assist...


Khairy Alonto took his MBA at AIM and now works there. Follow him on Twitter @khairyalonto or view his profile on http://ph.linkedin.com/in/khairyalonto