For many employers, e-mail has long been the preferred method of communication about anything and everything — but certain things should never be said electronically.
Scary thought: More and more courts are accepting e-mail as evidence — and that means your company can easily end up on the hook for seemingly innocuous e-mails by managers and supervisors.
To be safe, remind managers they should always avoid having the following types of conversations via e-mail:
- Deciding whether or not the company should contact an attorney (“I have a feeling we’re gonna need to bring in a lawyer to deal with Mike’s complaints”).
- Criticism about legally protected actions (“I can’t believe Mary’s taking leave again!”).
- An employee’s poor performance review (“Earl couldn’t believe I gave him a negative review”), and
- Anything about salaries, bonuses or promotions (“It’s a toss-up; the promotion really could go to either Bob or Lisa”).
