Dr Kishori Mahat
The COVID-19 pandemic has inexplicably ushered us into a heightened era of digital workplaces and has rejuvenated the importance of personal contacts and social working environment. Whatever the situation may be, the importance of digital communication platforms like emails as a primary medium of professional and personal communication cannot be overstated. Email communications have already replaced paper-based communications in the workplace. It is thus critical for businesses and professionals to adopt and promote the importance of email etiquette as an important business skill.
Appropriate email etiquettes at workplaces include a clear subject line, respectful greetings, structured email body outlining the WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, WHEN and HOW and a conclusion that clearly articulates the way forward. The purpose and importance of sending emails to individuals directly or opting to carbon copy (cc) or blind carbon copy (bcc) are equally important, but often not well understood.
With increasing numbers now working virtually, we all must play our parts to strike a balance on how much time one should spend online. Spending extensive hours on screen can compromise individual’s physical and mental wellbeing. Therefore, being mindful on the use of digital tools and technologies is essential. We all have the choice - Work Hard or Work Smart - Opting for the latter will boost productivity, address redundancy and reduce stress. An easy way is reducing the email traffic. Nothing is more upsetting than waking up to hundreds of unread emails when before going to bed, one has meticulously cleared all the unread emails.
‘Snail-mail’ means posting letters and documents in the old-fashioned way, via the post office. With the invention of email by Ray Tomlinson in 1972, it revolutionize the communication making it faster and cheaper than snail-mails. However, incessant emails flooding our inboxes has now become an inbox infodemia and one of the major sources of stress.
A study by McKinsey found that on average, 28% of work time is spent on emails. People check emails on an average 11 times per hour. Similarly, a study done by an American researcher, Gloria Mark found that the more time we spend working with emails on a particular day, the lower our performance and the more susceptibility to stress. The emails also greatly contributes to a sense of cognitive overload arising due to various factors such as, lack of clarity in email requests, constant interruption due to emails and social pressure to respond quickly especially when the sender is higher in the organizational hierarchy, amongst others. This study also found that emails usually impose more costs on the recipient than on the sender due to addition of stress, thus defeating the very purpose of emails being cheaper and faster as compared to snail-mails.
These factors can be easily reduced by these simple steps.
Understanding the very purpose of sending the email. Send the email, only if you have to. Often, a telephone conversation or a short text message can sort out many queries. If situation allows, just walking up to a colleague and talking can be more effective and efficient than sending trails of emails. If you want a specific action from someone, write the email directly to that person rather than sending one email to multiple people, which only creates confusion as to what action is required from each person. Being mindful of the time to send emails is equally important. As much as possible, send emails only during working or business hours.
Understanding the purpose of replying to an email. As soon as we receive the email, we start hitting on the keys. What might be useful is to take a pause and see whether you have to reply or not. Generally, if the email is addressed to you, it is a professional courtesy to reply timely. If you are on leave or anticipate delays in responding, set the autoreply in advance indicating the same. In replying to your emails, keep it brief by including up to three short sections. If you are sending a longer message, use short paragraphs and bulleted or numbered lists to highlight important information. Always conclude your email professionally and do not forget to proofread the email before hitting the ‘send’.
Often at work, one may receive emails that could be upsetting. In such a scenario, it is best not to reply immediately. Sleep over it or if you have to channel your anger, type the reply and save it. Review the reply the next day, and you will be surprised as most of the time, you will delete that reply or will mellow down the tone of your reply. The key thing is to refrain from replying to emails when you are angry or emotional.
Using proper email signatures. Each organization has its own template for creating the email signature. Always use your professional email signatures for all professional communications.
Understanding the use of the carbon copy (cc) and blind carbon copy (bcc). The cc option openly shares everyone’s names and email addresses. So use this when sharing such information in an appropriate group. On the other hand, bcc is used for sending your message to a group of people who do not know one another. This function conceals the names and email addresses of other recipients to protect their privacy when you do not want everyone on the message to receive contact information for the others. It also prohibits recipients from accidentally replying to a large group of people. So, if you get a cc or a bcc email, evaluate as to whether a response from your end is required, or if you have to cc or bcc, think about whom to do so and be clear of the purpose.
Using ‘Reply’ versus ‘Reply to all’ option. One may receive an email as a part of group email. Please do not reply to all in such instances unless is it absolutely required for you to do so. Such group emails are for sharing general information, so do not click ‘reply all’ and thank the sender.
Starting a new email trail for a new topic. Generally, for the same subject matter, it is suggested to continue in the same email trail. Abruptly starting new email trail on the same subject matter often makes it difficult to track back to the older communications which makes it difficult to get the holistic understanding of the issue.
Verifying the subject of the email. Often you may have noted that the subject and the content of the email has no linkage. This poses a risk of the email not being read by the target audience. So, always write a subject in the email and ensure that is short and crisp and gives an overview of the content of the email.
Using correct email address. Often there could be employees/ colleagues with similar names. It is best to check the email address one more time before sending the email. For personal communications, personal email addresses are the best.
Email with attachments. If you are intending to send attachments in an email, always attach the documents first before writing the email. This will prevent the risk of sending the email without attachments, when the intention of the email was to send the attachments.
Give due consideration to the culture. If you are communicating with colleagues oversees, then give due consideration to the culture. While in some cultures, communication is quite open and in others, people prefer only communicating with business contacts they have already made or are introduced by someone. In some cultures, there are certain standards when it comes to greetings and writing opening statements. Also, the sequence of email addresses follow hierarchy in certain cultures. So, it is important to be mindful of these cultural sensitivities in sending the emails.
Checking your outbox before shutting down. Often the last few emails in the day are the most important ones. In a rush, you tend to send these emails and shut down the computer only to see that the email has been in the outbox for the last 24 hours. Therefore, always make it a habit to check the outbox to ensure that all the emails have been sent before shutting down your computer.
Lastly, proofread everything before clicking SEND. An erroneous email is a reflection of your professional caliber. When is doubt, you can also request for a peer to review your writing. Requesting to disregard or trying to recall an email isn’t a failsafe and should never be considered as an option.