Email Etiquette

 Email is two-way communication – usually.  It is often an invitation, or a request, or even a compliment, but all these things deserve an answer.

If a friend stopped you in the hallway at work and said, “You are just the person I wanted to see; Will you look up the agenda for the conference and sent it to Pete?”  Would you stand there and say nothing?  Would you simply walk away without acknowledging the request?  Of course, not; you would most likely say you’d be glad to do it.  AND you would probably even let them know when you had completed the task.  Too often that doesn’t happen when we are sending emails.  We see the request, we might even stop what we’re doing to comply, but it often happens that we are busy, or we are distracted by the next email that comes in, and we go on about our day, never acknowledging that we GOT the message, or that we did as we were asked.

This phenomenon happens all the time.  It doesn’t matter if the request is made by a coworker, a friend or even your supervisor or boss.  We just don’t think about letting people know we have heard their request or fulfilled it.

That leaves the poor person who made the request hanging out to dry.  Now what are they supposed to do?  If they repeat the request, it will be seen as nagging.  If they don’t check to see if the request was received, they will worry about whether it was ever seen, and if so, that it has been forgotten.  If they assume that the request was completed and it was not, there could be serious consequences or at the very least inconveniences.

This is tough on anyone.  If it’s a friend, you can send a friendly “Not nagging, just wondering” note.  But if it is your employee or someone on your team, it’s more difficult; that familiarity might not be there.  You don’t want to alienate a coworker, or offend a subordinate, and you certainly don’t want your boss to feel you are not dependable.

It is extremely frustrating if you’re the one who has to wait and wonder.  To reply is just courtesy.  If someone asks us to do something, we really should acknowledge the request, and then let them know you have completed it.  It only takes a few minutes.  If you get in the habit of always replying, just as if you had been asked in person, one of those irritations that spoil relationships will go away.