Email etiquette

Good office etiquette creates an environment of comfort and effectiveness in the workplace. In today’s world, basic manners and courtesy send a message of openness and will leave a positive impression on colleagues and partners..

We have all probably experienced one of the following:

– while at your desk, a person from your department is talking extremely loudly about the vacation he/she has just come back from

– you receive an email from a co-worker, with an unfriendly, unprofessional tone to it

– while at your desk, one of your colleagues appears and starts gossiping to you

 Business etiquette is a set of manners that should be adhered to in a professional environment.

Employees are expected to follow certain guidelines and behave appropriately in the workplace. Why is business etiquette important?

 – to gain an advantage over others in a competitive environment

– a firm handshake when meeting someone, saying please and thank you, showing up on time, being an attentive listener, all make others around you feel appreciated.

 – it creates an air of confidence and professionalism

– it is a key indicator of positive employment

 Email etiquette

Most of the rules for writing a correct email relate to how the traditional letter was written before the digital age. However, email has special features that you don’t have to worry about when writing a regular letter. So which are the rules to watch out ? In order for the recipient to receive your email positively, there are a few things to pay attention to when writing.

Text length

When writing an email, the general rule is this: as informative as necessary, as short as possible. In an increasingly time-sensitive world, people are inundated with countless messages every day and being able to cut through the non-essential is important. Get straight to the point and provide essential information. However, this should not be done at the expense of accuracy and courtesy.

Politeness and courtesy

When reading an email, you can notice some traits related to the person. Tone and content is very important as you cannot see each other. According to traditional mail rules, each letter begins with a greeting (Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms) . This also prevails in digital communication. However, due to the use of instant messaging (such as Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger), SMS or chats, many users have become accustomed to new written language standards. Emails follow another code.

The tone used in different chats corresponds to the rules of face-to-face communication. For professional emails, on the other hand, appropriate greetings and politeness are not black and white. The important thing when deciding how to approach this, is above all to respect the hierarchy and the level of familiarity. The safest choice is “Dear Ms., Dear Mr.”, as well as “With kind regards” or “Best regards” which shows a level of respect to the person.

 Grammar and spelling

Nowadays, emails are the written business communication standard. Many people quickly write an email from their smartphone, whether on the bus or train. Lack of focus and vigilance is inevitable. However, this should not be an excuse for typos, syntax errors, and spelling mistakes.

 – Respond promptly.

When busy or on holiday, always put an out-of-office alert on your email If the sender needs a quick and urgent response, the best solution is to call them. If you already know that you will not be able to respond within the next 24 hours but it’s an important matter, write a short message stating that you want to respond in detail but need more time.

It is important to have an objective

In many fields of activity, employees receive dozens of emails. In order to be able to classify emails quickly and assess their urgency, a relevant object is required. The subject field is however neither suitable for a summary nor for an inaccurate description such as „A question” or „Appointment? ” It is good to be concise and to the point. As a general rule, do not mention that you have a request, but clearly indicate what your request refers to.

 – Email addresses should be written last

– Use concise and professional language (no slang or abbreviations – ie. rather than “I feel for you”, use “I understand your situation”) Abbreviations should be used sparingly in emails. There are two reasons against the use of (unusual) abbreviations. The first is that you usually have to decipher them. The reader has to find words from letter sequences, which is not always as obvious as with the familiar abbreviations „eg. „Or” etc „. Some abbreviations are so unique that the recipient may not know them.

I hope that you enjoyed reading the article and you found useful the information above.