Email Etiquette tip: Always consider the recipient
Posted Under: Email Etiquette,Email Productivity Tips and Solutions,Productivity,Tips
Many etiquette blunders can be avoided by simply considering your recipient(s) and trying to “ receive” the message from their eyes. There aren’t enough etiquette rules to account for every situation, so consider the perspective of each recipient every time you send an e-mail.
Have you ever saved business e-mails from the previous week and sacrificed the weekend to handle them? If so, you probably felt like you were efficient and committed, figuring you were contributing to the organization’s productivity by using your precious personal weekend time taking care of business. You’re not alone: research shows that Saturdays and Sundays account for the highest percentage of “open and click” rates by e-mail users.[1][1]
In fact, when business e-mails are “saved” for weekend handling, it creates a huge e-mail bubble among the Monday morning recipients. People who think that they are giving more to the company by committing weekend time to catch up on their e-mail may actually be creating more challenges for their co-workers.
I worked for a boss who was a “weekend warrior.” Frankly, I couldn’t stand the thought of going to work on Monday morning. Before I arrived at the office, I knew I would have a minimum of 30, sometimes up to 50 e-mails from my boss. These were items that I could have managed the prior week, and some of them became unnecessarily urgent because he sat on them. It severely impacted all of his direct reports’ abilities to manage their workloads. Mondays were relabeled as “Stress-days.” We finally got together with him and convinced him to spread things out. What a difference that made!
[1][1] See “Q2 2006 E-mail Statistics: Breaking Down E-mail Behaviors and Trends” by eRoi, Inc., 2006.
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Reader Comments
That’s a great point. Procrastination never produces favorable results; however, we all do it. Email is especially easy to fall behind on, especially if you’re working in a large office, because it’s our primary form of interoffice communication.
Jeff Kempf, marketing intern at http://www.eroi.com
Ya know… they say that inaction coud possibly be fear based. Sometimes we procrastinate because we’re afraid of something. Just food fo thought, Jeff! Thanks for the post. M
Thanks for the post. I have been the guilty boss in this scenario. When one of my direct reports (who works at home and with whom I have an open and honest relationship, fortunately) complained about my sending e-mails in the evenings or on weekends, I was glad because it never even occurred to me that my e-mail habits might put pressure on him.
Once I assured him that I didn’t expect him to answer e-mails during his personal time, his stress was gone. I also made it clear that when I send him a lot of e-mails all at once (such as on a Sunday afternoon), I don’t expect replies to be nearly as prompt as if I had spaced them out better throughout the week.
Bottom line: maintain communication with your co-workers (bosses, reports, and peers) about what each person’s expectations are.
You’re right, when your behavior can be misinterpreted, open regular and forthright communications will help manage expectations. Many employees see behavior as stronger than words, so even this could be a challenge. You’ve actually touched on the behavior that we’ve addressed – in a humorous way – in this blog post: Midnight Manny Have a look, and perhaps a laugh. When we do our productivity workshops, we always start with the leadership and their emailing habits, and the need for them to set the example of the behavior they want to see from their employees. Thanks for your comment.