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The HR Doctor Is
In
"The Human Side of E-Mail"
Dear HR Doctor: The HR Doctor received a lot of
feedback on the policy suggestions made in a recent column about e-mail,
published in County News. Extracts from an exchange with Ed
Williams, assistant county administrator of McLean County, Ill., highlight
an important issue that Ed was kind enough to raise - by e-mail, of
course:
"Like numerous employers, we put out a regular newsletter that contains
such things as employee advertisements to sell cars, furniture, etc. These
types of items were cluttering up our e-mail bulletin boards. Rather than
prohibit it, we decided it was an issue of a healthy workforce, 'employee
friendly' to continue it, so we had data processing create a bulletin
board which was for non-business purposes. This relieved the 'business'
bulletin board of a lot traffic while retaining the employee's ability to
advertise their cars, boats, houses, etc., for sale.
"I know it is a touchy issue, but I am also inclined to allow
announcements even if they are of a religious nature. I personally think
it may violate the constitutional separation of church and state to allow
employees to have a Bible in the public's view on their desks, but I see
nothing wrong with their posting notices of church meetings/events on our
bulletin board. The messages are not read by the general public and
employees are not 'targeted' by such messages. They are free to pay
attention or disregard them.
"Although I agree that an e-mail policy must prohibit any activity
which is otherwise prohibited, such as sexual or any other type of
harassment, I would bet that everyone realizes that personal messages
continue and, in fact, can also be healthy. It is more convenient for
employees to use e-mail because the other employee doesn't even have to be
there, it is less disruptive to the other employees because he/she can
read and reply at his or her convenience instead of being interrupted
while busy.
"In short, I prefer a policy which recognizes our diversity and allows
people to 'connect' to others at work. I think our e-mail policies need to
reflect the legitimacy of personal messages so that some people will not
feel guilty about violating a policy which they know is regularly
violated. Thanks for listening. That's my two-cents worth."
Ed
Dear Ed, Thanks for taking the time to write
and thanks for reading the HR Doctor's columns. I hope you enjoy them.
The idea of using the e-mail network for "business purposes" should not
be taken so rigidly that we, in effect, surrender to a "bean counter's"
definition of "business purpose."
I believe you are very correct in stating that improving employee
morale and communications through mechanisms, including permitting e-mail
use to announce charity events, good news, success stories, suggestion
program winners, the county employee picnic, etc., would constitute a
"legitimate public purpose" being served. Some places are moving to an
"Intra-net" that includes specific space for an employee bulletin board
for classified ads, birthday greetings, announcements, etc. That way,
there is a place in the system where one can go to read this information
without it being "inflicted" on the entire network of e-mail
subscribers.
What is problematic, i.e., would be tough to articulate a "legitimate
public purpose," would be religious messages, in terms of content, or
proselytizing messages. You bring up very valid points and I appreciate
the fact that you took the time to write and remind us of the human side
of e-mail.
Best regards, The HR Doctor
(The HR Doctor was written by Phil Rosenberg, director of
Human Resources, Broward County, Fla.)
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