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Create an E-Mail Policy

E-mail has an immediacy and convenience that can make it seem less substantial and serious than information printed on paper. Because of its informal nature, employees will often type things in an e-mail that they would never dream of writing in a letter or memo. Too often this casual approach proves to be a recipe for disaster.

According to the 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey conducted by the American Management Institute, almost a third of employers have fired workers for:

• Breach of confidentiality in e-mail—22%.

• Excessive personal use of e-mail—26%.

• Inappropriate or offensive language used in e-mails—62%.

• Violation of company e-mail policy—64%.

• Viewing, downloading, or uploading inappropriate/offensive content—84%.

Remember, e-mails are a permanent record of communication that can be saved, copied, forwarded, and printed. And if inappropriate messages are sent, a return address will identify them as originating from the employer’s company.

Imagine the problems that could arise from an employee’s personal political opinion being forwarded and publicly posted as your organization’s official policy!

Other risks involve sending messages that contain copyrighted, confidential, or defamatory information that can be used against your business in a court of law. Several recent newspaper headlines highlight how carelessness with e-mail content can have a devastating impact on both the individual and one’s corporation.

To avoid lawsuits and the expensive process of e-discovery, more and more companies are creating and implementing an official e-mail policy. Areas to be covered include:

• Your right as an employer to monitor and randomly check the content of e-mails sent and received on company equipment without prior notice to the employee.

• The conditions under which your company can access employees’ e-mail messages.

• Guidelines regarding what is acceptable to include in e-mail communications.

• Guidelines regarding what is unacceptable in e-mail communications.

• Your company’s e-mail backup and retention policy.

• How the organization will respond to noncompliance with the stated e-mail policy.