Some U.S. workers may experience anxiety about opening email from their boss. Ten percent of U.S. employees say their company has used email to fire or lay off employees. Another 17 percent indicated their boss used emails to avoid other difficult conversations.
The national survey of 752 U.S. workers was done in May and June 2007 by Harris Interactive for The Marlin Company.
“Email has become the new shield of today’s business. Companies hide behind it to avoid the negative reactions of unhappy employees,” said Frank Kenna III, president of The Marlin Company.
“While email works fine for day-to-day communication, the last thing you want to do is use it for something as sensitive as layoffs,” Mr. Kenna said. “That risks turning former employees into disgruntled ones who can become walking negative advertisements for your firm.”
The also found that 5 percent of respondents had received humiliating email that was copied to other individuals. In addition 23 percent of workers have received politically incorrect email, 15 percent have received an email sent in anger, and 13 percent said they received flirtatious emails.
“Email etiquette is still in the middle ages and for too many employees anything goes is the rule,” said Mr. Kenna. “Just like companies have telephone policies, they need to have email policies with clear rules for what is and isn’t permissible.”
The survey revealed that U.S. workers make other email-related errors at work. Nineteen percent said they had sent an email to the wrong person, and 38 percent had sent an email without an intended attachment.
“U.S. workers are creating an opportunity for Microsoft to pounce on workers’ mistakes by adding a warning about a missing attachment,” said Mr. Kenna, who added a special message for Microsoft’s chairman. “Hey Bill Gates, how about fixing that attachment problem. Fifty-two million U.S. workers will thank you!”
