B2 – Upper Intermediate
On average, most employees spend almost 1/4 of their workweek going over all their work e-mails. Even though we use e-mails all the time, many workers still have the tendency to commit embarrassing mistakes when using e-mails as a way to communicate at work.
Read this article to know some of the most essential e-mail etiquette rules every employee must know.
https://www.inc.com/business-insider/email-etiquette-rules.html
Discussion Questions:
- Which rules did you not know or follow before?
- Do you agree or disagree that “it’s better to leave humor out of emails unless you know the recipient well”?
- Talk about your experience when miscommunication via e-mail occurred between you and a colleague or customer/client. What do you think are other ways to avoid misunderstandings when using e-mail as a means of communication?
- What do you do when you receive an e-mail that wasn’t meant for you?
- What is your reaction to: “Every electronic message leaves a trail.”?
One reply on “Email Etiquette Rules Professionals Should Follow”
1.- Which rules did you not know or follow before?
Quite frankly, I knew all the rules described by the writer. But, to be honest with you, I always forget some of them. For instance, I always use more than necessary exclamation points.
2.- Do you agree or disagree that “it’s better to leave humor out of emails unless you know the recipient well”?
I like to use a bit of humor in my emails but I agree it’s better to leave humor out of emails unless you know the recipient well. Also, something that I think is funny might not be funny to someone else.
3.- Talk about your experience when miscommunication via e-mail occurred between you and a colleague or customer/client. What do you think are other ways to avoid misunderstandings when using e-mail as a means of communication?
These are familiar experiences for me. Without any information other than words, sometimes what we believe is being said may have very little to do with what we wish to communicate. So it’s very important to think twice before sending the message.
4.- What do you do when you receive an e-mail that wasn’t meant for you?
It’s pretty common to work in an office where your name is very similar to someone else already on staff. So the chance of making a mistake is high when you want to create an email or to reply to someone. What I do in this case depends on If it’s an advertising message or spam (I really do anything, maybe delete it) or if If I get a single message that was intended for someone else ( Isend it on to the person it was supposed to get to).
5.- What is your reaction to: “Every electronic message leaves a trail.”?
For me, it’s very important to keep in mind always this sentence. We have to assume that others could see what we write so we need to be mindful about its contents. On the other hand, what about our privacy? This is a broad topic to discuss deeply in another moment.