Controversy this week about Hilary Clinton’s use of a private email server while Secretary of State is just the tip of the iceberg about email hygiene. In her case, at the time she did it, it was not against policy. Now it would be. She may have been advised to do it to add a layer of protection against internal leaks. We don’t know the reason, but we do know there will be controversy.
For the rest of us, the problem does not seem to be too much privacy. We seem to have become incredibly sloppy. When we are responding to business questions from other employees and customers from so many devices, at all hours, it is really easy to mess it up, or to stop paying attention to what should be sent from which email address.
Then, when it matters, it really matters. Think of the time you sent a personal inappropriate email on the company email. You don’t think anyone will ever read it other than the recipient. And, then they do. You may be fired. Now it REALLY matters. Ask Amy Pascal from Sony.
By the way, all of your emails are discoverable in case of litigation. With e-discovery pulling key words, they can go through thousands of your emails to find what you said to your fellow employee about that vendor or client or other employee. As Bradley Davis, an e-discovery expert at Zuber Lawler 7 DeLuca law said this week in our ProVisors group meeting “…don’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want your Mother to read.”
So, how about reviewing your email policies with staff, and paying good attention to what you are saying, to whom and on which email account. Oh, and was that during working hours?????