33-PS Email Etiquette

7/25/2019 33-PS Email Etiquette

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The Audit Experience

Performance Support E-Mail Etiquette

E-mail has become a fundamental tool for business. It is an ideal way to handle matters quickly

and bridge time differences, but can also be a burden due to the olume of messages alone.

Throughout your career at !eloitte, you will most likely use e-mail seeral times a day. "ou willreceie and send numerous e-mails throughout the day and may find that more and more time is

being spent managing e-mail. Therefore, extra attention to e-mail etiquette is important.

This performance support proides you with simple, yet effectie tips for ensuring you use

proper e-mail etiquette and communicate in the most effectie, efficient, and appropriate waypossible. This is one performance support you may want to hae with you at all times#

This performance support will coer the following topics $click on a link to be taken to thetopic%&

TI'( )*+ (E!I E-AI/

o 0hen do I use or not use e-mail1

o 0hat goes in the e-mail1

o I am ready to send the e-mail, now what1

TI'( )*+ +E('*!I T* E-AI/

o 2ow do I respond to an e-mail1

o 0hat about copying others, forwarding e-mail, or replying to all1

o 0hy haen3t they responded yet1

TIPS FOR SENDING E-MAIL

When do I use or not use e-mail?

The purpose of the message and the intended audience should always be considered when

assessing whether it is appropriate to use e-mail.

4se e-mail for routine business and for questions with quick, simple answers, but not forsomething complex. If the topic is too complex to describe ia e-mail, consider using the

phone. This will reduce the risk of your leaing out important information and details, or

allowing the reader to interpret your message in a way other than intended.

eer use e-mail to discuss confidential issues. +emember that e-mail isn5t priate. E-

mail can be retrieed, examined, and used in a court of law. 4nless you are using an

encryption deice $hardware or software%, you should assume that e-mail oer the

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Internet is not secure. eer put anything in an e-mail message that you wouldn5t put on

a postcard. +emember that e-mail can be forwarded, so unintended audiences may seewhat you5e written. "ou might also inadertently send something to the wrong party, so

always keep the content professional to aoid embarrassment.

!on5t use e-mail as an excuse to aoid personal contact. !on5t forget the alue of face-to-face or een oice-to-oice communication. If you hae a problem with someone, speakwith that person directly. !on5t use e-mail to aoid an uncomfortable situation or to

coer up a mistake. (ituations that potentially inole conflict and strong emotions

always desere a phone call or a meeting.

What goes in the e-mail?

Subject line

The e-mail sub7ect should be detailed enough to gie the recipient an idea about the e-mail content without haing to open it.

The sub7ect should accurately reflect the content of the message and adise what is

needed and by when. )or example& 8+esponse required9, 8)or +eiew9, 8+equest for

Information,9 8)"I9 and so on. In addition, think of meaningful but short titles. 0ords

like :2i: or :2ello: or :2elp: should not be used.

;eep to one sub7ect per message. )or example, aoid discussing issues related to two

different engagements in the same e-mail, as that can lead to confusion and affect the

information we keep on file related to the audit engagement.

4se a meaningful sub7ect instead of 4+ET or I'*+TAT if possible.

o If a message is especially urgent, call recipients to tell them it5s on the way, and ask

for their prompt attention < but sae that for truly critical matters.

o !o not oeruse the high-priority option.

Salutation

4se the right salutation in your e-mail. This is important so you gie a good impressionof your courtesy and understanding.

=e friendly, but be professional. 4se formal business style unless you know the recipient

well. (tart your e-mail message with :!ear >ame?: or :2ello >ame?:, and end it with

a standard closing such as :;ind regards: or :(incerely9.

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Language

essages should be concise and to the point. larity is what makes an e-mail message

stand out in any language.

2elp your e-mail message coney what you intend with a format that makes your pointsimpossible to miss.

;eep the e-mail short and simple. Aoid long stories or descriptions. !on5t forget that

some people receie hundreds of messages. In addition, many people now receie

messages on =lackberries or other personal hand-held deices $known as personal digitalassistants or 8'!As9%, etc.

4se proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. "ou may sometimes use common

abbreiations with your !eloitte colleagues, but when communicating with others, use

standard writing protocol. "our e-mail message reflects on you and !eloitte, so

traditional spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules apply.

4se a professional, appropriate tone.

o For example, in dealing with a work colleague, you may communicate in a more

relaxed casual context; however, when dealing with entity personnel, you shouldcommunicate in a more formal manner.

o E-mail communication can5t coney the nuances of erbal communication. In an

attempt to infer tone of oice, some people use emoticons, but use them sparingly so

that you don5t appear unprofessional. Also, don5t assume that using a smiley will

diffuse a difficult message. An oerall suggestion is do not use emoticons incommunications with entity personnel.

o =e careful with your use of sarcasm or humor in an e-mail, it may be taken the wrong

way#

4se simple, straightforward language. olloquialisms and 7argon can cause needless

misunderstandings, een among people who think they speak the same language.

4(I A// A'ITA/ /ETTE+( /**;( /I;E "*4 A+E (2*4TI. *(T

*(I!E+ IT =*T2 +4!E A! I++ITATI. It is also hard to read. If you want to

emphasiBe something in your message, then bold the item or underline itC this will alsodraw attention to the item.

4sing all lowercase looks laBy#

)or emphasis, use asterisks or bold formatting to emphasiBe important words. !o not use

a lot of colors or graphic, because not eeryone uses an e-mail program that can displaythem. These may cause an e-mail to be large and then blocked as some organiBations

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restrict the siBe of the e-mails receied. As well, graphics are difficult to read on personal

hand-held deices.

Content

ake sure your message coneys what action is needed, who is responsible, and when

must it be done or if the message is simply for the recipient3s information.

'roide all the information required for the recipient to take the action you requestCproide this information either as an attachment or in the body of the e-mail message.

/imit business messages to business matters. Aoid references to politics, religion, local

issues, celebrity gossip, and other potentially offensie or confusing topics.

Attachments and large files

!o not attach unnecessary files.

!o not attach large files in your e-mail since not eeryone is on a broadband connection.

It can take quite a while to download a large file, particularly if recipient is using a dial-

up Internet connection.

Another reason to aoid attaching large files is because some Internet serice proiderslimit the siBe of a single piece of mail coming through their serers. Therefore your

recipient may neer een know you sent them something.

If you hae to e-mail more than two documents as attachments, Bip them in one file. *rif the document is large, compress it into a Bip file.

Formatting

(end your reply in the format it came in.

It is good to use 2T/ tags and formatting, but the other person must hae e-mail

software that can support the 2T/ and formattingC otherwise, it will be indecipherable.

If you do not hae the facility of word wrap, don5t forget to press ETE+ after F

characters.

=ackground color and stationery are fine for your personal e-mail. It is not appropriate

for work-related e-mail.

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E-mail signature

4se the !eloitte proided default signature in icrosoft *utlook. This will include your

contact information so people know who you are, your mailing address, and phone

numbers.

"ou may want to remoe your personal mobile number and the home number from the e-

mail signature if you are participating in a big mailing list. "ou neer know the kind of

people who hae subscribed to that list.

I am ready to send the e-mail, no hat?

!e"ie the e-mail

Always read the e-mail before you send it.

!o not hit the (end button without doing a spell check. An e-mail with spelling mistakesor grammatical errors indicates that you hae written the message in a non-serious mood

and may coney a bad impression. "ou can also do a spell check by copying the e-mail

into icrosoft 0ord and using the spell check feature.

Consider your state of mind

If you are in a bad mood, angry, upset, sad, or hae any other feelings that may reflect on

the style of your writing, before sending your message $with irtually no chance of

retrieing it%, remember this& pushing the send button lasts a momentC its effects can lastmuch longer. A good rule is to count to ten before pushing send or wait a day before

sending the e-mail.

!ead recei#t or deli"ery recei#t notifications

"ou can use the 8read receipt9 or 8deliery receipt9 notification function in icrosoft

*utlook to notify you of when the e-mail has been receied or read. =e careful whenusing this function, as it adds to the number of e-mails in your inbox and therefore creates

additional e-mails for you to manage. In addition, the person receiing the e-mail also

sees the notification and may not appreciate the use of this feature. Ask yourself if youreally need to know this information.

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TIPS FOR RESPONDING TO E-MAIL

$o do I res#ond to an e-mail?

Answer all questions and pre-empt further questions.

Always reply to e-mails, especially the ones specifically addressed to you since thesender is waiting to hear from you. Typically, the indiiduals listed in the :To: line of the

e-mail are those indiiduals that require action. The indiiduals in the :c: line are those

that may hae been copied for informational purposes only.

Answer promptly. If you are busy and cannot respond promptly, for example because theinformation is back at the !eloitte office, then respond to the sender letting them know

when you will respond.

If you are copied on an e-mail, let the person to whom the message was directlyaddressed respond first, assuming that they are the most appropriate person to respond. If

the person who should be responding to the message is not included on the distribution

list, forward it to them.

0hen responding to an e-mail, start by replying from the message you receied. In many

instances it is more effectie and efficient to include what the sender wrote, add yourcomments at the top of the mail, not the bottom. If you want to add edits in the text of

the message sent to you, make sure you tell the reader to see your comments below.

What about co#ying others, forarding e-mail, or re#lying to all?

Co#ying others

opy only people who genuinely need to know and are directly inoled.

4se the blind copy and courtesy copy appropriately. !on5t use 8=cc9 to keep others from

seeing who you copiedC it shows confidence when you directly 8c9 anyone receiing acopy.

!o not use 8=cc9 as a substitute to 8To9 as it will make people suspicious about your

intentionsC keep e-mailing practices as transparent as possible.

If you are sending an e-mail to multiple people and it is appropriate, you may put their e-mail addresses in the :=cc: field and your own e-mail address in the :To: field. This will

aoid sharing recipients priate e-mail addresses with strangers.

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Forarding e-mails

!on5t send chain letters, irus warnings, or 7unk mail. If a constant stream of 7okes from

a friend or colleague annoys you, be honest and ask to be remoed from the list. !irect

personal e-mail to your personal e-mail account.

Instead of continuing to forward a message string, summariBe long discussions. (crolling

through pages of replies to understand a discussion is annoying. 2ighlight or quote the

releant passage, then include your response.

If you are forwarding or reposting a message you5e receied, do not change the wording.

If you want to forward a message that you receied indiidually, ask the author forpermission first.

Sending or re#lying to all

=e sparing with group e-mail. (end group e-mail only when it5s useful to eery recipient.

!o not oeruse reply to all. :+eply all: should only be used when compiling resultsrequiring collectie input, and only if you hae something to add. +ecipients get quite

annoyed to open an e-mail that says only :e too#: !o not 8+eply all9 on a personal

response to someone, especially if leadership is included in the distribution list.

Why ha"en%t they res#onded yet?

=e patient in waiting for responses. E-mail can be ery burdensome due to the olume ofmessages receied in any gien day.

0hen it comes to differing time Bones, hae patience. A message sent during theworkday in Athens, reece will arrie well before the start of office hours in ontreal,

anada. "ou probably won5t hae an answer before you leae your desk that night. If

you need a faster response, use the phone, and leae a number where you can be reachedafter hours.

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33-PS Email Etiquette

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