Rules on E-mail.....Any suggestions?

[dQApprentice]

The use of email at work gossip about rivals and flirt with colleagues. Company could be losing hours of work time because of misuse of email.

According to the study, gossiping about colleagues online was the second biggest waste of working time by men. Among women the biggest email abuse was ‘planning social life with friends’, followed by contacting brothers and sisters and gossiping about other staff. Other misuses of email include forwarding jokes to colleagues, and seeking new employment.

In this regard, my boss wants me to draft an email policy defining acceptable parameters for email usage.

Bellow is the policies I formulated:

- Nobody shall use office computers for personal emails.
- Nobody shall forward any chain letter.
- Never reply to a lengthy message by sending it back in its integrality only appending (e.g. 'I Agee') at its ultimateness.
(I’m still thinking of any other policies that encourage employees use technology in its proper context.)

Friends,
Please comment, suggest, add, improve, etc

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by dQApprentice

The use of email at work gossip about rivals and flirt with colleagues. Company could be losing hours of work time because of misuse of email.

According to the study, gossiping about colleagues online was the second biggest waste of working time by men. Among women the biggest email abuse was ‘planning social life with friends’, followed by contacting brothers and sisters and gossiping about other staff. Other misuses of email include forwarding jokes to colleagues, and seeking new employment.

In this regard, my boss wants me to draft an email policy defining acceptable parameters for email usage.

Bellow is the policies I formulated:

- Nobody shall use office computers for personal emails.
- Nobody shall forward any chain letter.
- Never reply to a lengthy message by sending it back in its integrality only appending (e.g. 'I Agee') at its ultimateness.
(I’m still thinking of any other policies that encourage employees use technology in its proper context.)

Friends,
Please comment, suggest, add, improve, etc

Do you have any actual evidence of email causing productivity problems? I wish everyone would stop forwarding bad jokes, urban legends and "cute" pictures, but it's not going to happen. Every once in a while there'll be a newspaper article telling about how some HR consulting firm has determined that Internet use is costing businesses millions of dollars in lost productivity, but there's never any actual evidence given. There should be policies regarding such things as pornography and messages that might be construed as discriminatory, hateful or otherwise stupid, but beyond that I don't see much point in throttling people.
Are people doing the work they're supposed to be doing? If they are, go find something else to prohibit. If they aren't, deal with that problem one-on-one. Punishing everyone for the transgressions of a few won't solve anything. Slackers will find a different way to slack.

[dQApprentice]

In Reply to Parent Post by Jim Wynne

Do you have any actual evidence of email causing productivity problems?

No. I think the problem is the selfness of human nature. Before, they use telephone for their own personal calls and now they use official email for their own personal mail.

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by dQApprentice

No. I think the problem is the selfness of human nature.

In my experience, company policies are no match for human nature.

In Reply to Parent Post by dQApprentice

Before, they use telephone for their own personal calls and now they use official email for their own personal mail.

And before the telephone they wrote letters, and perhaps used company stamps to mail them.

[dQApprentice]

In Reply to Parent Post by Jim Wynne

In my experience, company policies are no match for human nature.

And before the telephone they wrote letters, and perhaps used company stamps to mail them.

Employees are not supposed to bring office supplies home, and neither should they use office computers for their own personal emails.

In Reply to Parent Post by Jim Wynne

I wish everyone would stop forwarding bad jokes, urban legends and "cute" pictures, but it's not going to happen.

Maybe it’s not going to happen.

Technology is the main proponent for change in this world. It also has its downside indeed.

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by dQApprentice

Employees are not supposed to bring office supplies home, and neither should they use office computers for their own personal emails.

Employees are not supposed to take office supplies home, but they do. There's a difference between going home with a pen or pad of paper and wholesale theft, however. By the same token, there's a difference between someone surfing the net and not doing what he's supposed to be doing and sending an email message that has no effect on productivity.

[dQApprentice]

In Reply to Parent Post by Jim Wynne

Employees are not supposed to take office supplies home, but they do. There's a difference between going home with a pen or pad of paper and wholesale theft, however. By the same token, there's a difference between someone surfing the net and not doing what he's supposed to be doing and sending an email message that has no effect on productivity.

I agree Jim a.k.a The Father of Positive RCA

[dQApprentice]

In Reply to Parent Post by Jim Wynne

Employees are not supposed to take office supplies home, but they do. There's a difference between going home with a pen or pad of paper and wholesale theft, however. By the same token, there's a difference between someone surfing the net and not doing what he's supposed to be doing and sending an email message that has no effect on productivity.

One last question. What about losing precious work hours as a result of email abuse? Isn’t it theft?