Business Email Policies
Internet access and company emails play a major role in the modern workplace. Work email systems allow employees to increase efficiency, save time and aid in communication, both internally and externally with clients. If your organization is planning to implement or update a new company-wide email system, make sure you have solid policies in place to protect you and your employees from potential legal issues, damaging viruses, low productivity and bad morale.
Other People Are Reading
-
Style Policies
-
When one of your employees sends out an email from his company email address, he is representing your organization. Be sure to include policies that clearly define your company's stance on writing style, such as which types of salutations should be used. According to Email Replies, many companies even create policies regarding email signatures. For example, employees must use a specific font type, size and color, as well as list their full name on one line, their business title on the next line and the company name and logo on the final line. Style policies will help ensure that all company communications are uniform and that employees are not adding too much individual style to work email communications.
Content Policies
-
Most companies include very strict content rules in their email policies. According to Business Link, some common content policies include prohibiting any offensive or indecent material via email. Other policies clearly state the parameters regarding confidential information sent in emails. Some companies include rules about who should be copied or blind copied on emails, as well as which types of emails can and cannot be forwarded.
-
Legal Policies
-
Many organizations make their employees sign email communication agreements that state that the employer can monitor any and all email communications. Other legal email policies may include listing the consequences for sending emails with libelous content or sending confidential information to unauthorized recipients. If employees break any of the rules, they may be terminated or held liable in a lawsuit in breech of company policies.
Productivity Policies
-
Some businesses create email productivity policies to prevent employees from wasting company time. These types of policies may include restrictions on personal emails or newsletter memberships. For example, many companies do not allow their employees to receive notifications from personal social networking websites. Others allow their employees to receive personal emails, but not daily updates from commercial websites, such as astrology horoscope sites. These types of policies may also give guidelines on how many emails should be sent and received each day.
-
References
- Photo Credit email image by Hao Wang from Fotolia.com
