Implementing an email best practice policy

[themightymrp]

First off, if there is a page already talking about this, please point me there!

 

Our school SLT have created a focus group to start thinking about better ways in which we handle email as staff. Partly due to GDPR and retention policies, but also to address issues surrounding workload and work/life balance.

 

Quite clearly from the first meeting we have a number of problems. Some staff are super tidy and keep their Inbox content to an absolute minimum. Others store YEARS worth of emails. Some people like to organise their emails into a solid folder structure, even so far as creating email rules to sort them automatically. On the flip side of that, some staff aren't even aware of how to create email rules and certainly haven't created a folder structure! Yet others seem to think that the 'Deleted Items' folder is a great place to store emails long term (never quite understood that one).

 

Other issues are accessing and using emails outside of normal work time. Some staff avoid it at all costs, others like the Head and myself are almost always available for emergency purposes and have emails on our work mobiles. Some people like to work late into the evening at home, others drop all thoughts of work once they reach the car park.

 

The next meeting will be in September, I have been tasked to find out if anybody else out there has a good working practice in place that we could build from? Does anybody have anything in place, even partly, to try and address how staff work with email? We use Office 365 and I know I can create all manner of retention based policies and rules in there, but that won't change working practices.

 

Any advice would be gratefully received

[Bedders]

You really need to know exactly what you're hoping to achieve - unless the point of your focus group is to determine that!

Do you want to force anyone to working in a certain way, either being available via email at all times, or saying "no emails allowed after 8pm"? As you've seen everyone has differing views so there's no one-size-fits-all here.

 

In my opinion email retention should be set by you based on storage availability or legal liability/risk acceptance. Our company uses an email archiving software with our on-prem. Exchange server, and there's a one year retention policy applied to almost all mailboxes (a few shared ones have less such as 6 months or 30 days for the really busy ones).

 

Choice is good. Arbitrary decisions, even when well justified to those making them, can involve forcing people to work how they aren't comfortable - and if there's no *real* need for it to change, it'll breed animosity.

[FishCustard]

One bit of advice I would give is not to make it prescriptive if at all possible.

 

Obviously some anti-patterns like storing things in Deleted Items are to be avoided, but I wouldn't say things like "it's recommended that you create folders to organise email" - some people don't like to work that way. I don't, I search for things if needed, and any emails that must be kept for whatever reason I save as files somewhere. Presenting the options of how people could make email more manageable and letting people choose if they wish might be worthwhile though.

 

The same could be said for out-of-hours working. A guideline that says that staff shouldn't feel in any way obliged to read or respond to messages outside of school hours is entirely a good thing, but one that recommends against sending them is not IMO.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Choice is good. Arbitrary decisions, even when well justified to those making them, can involve forcing people to work how they aren't comfortable - and if there's no *real* need for it to change, it'll breed animosity.

Beaten to it. This, absolutely.

[themightymrp]

I agree, there is no "one size fits all" strategy. And I don't particularly want to force a style of work onto people. I have my own methods and quirks which work well for me.

 

Thanks for the input so far, I'll probably end up presenting it as options available which we can train staff on - but not forcing one particular way.

 

Maybe?

[jthompson]

Retention is a technical issue to be bashed out on a data protection basis. Day to day working habits are more of a 'style' choice to be left for individuals. It can depend on the person's preferences, their role in the school, whether or not they've delegated access to it, etc. A shared reprographics inbox may require a very different approach to a pastoral inbox, for instance.

 

I'm happy to give staff some helpful tips and suggestions, but I'm not about to tell them how to do their job.

 

In terms of out of hours email use, one good memorandum from SLT can make clear the expectations around that. We've found that that was helpful, particularly for less seasoned staff who otherwise might not have felt empowered to not get drawn into email correspondence out of hours.

[MatthewL]

I don't think there is a way to deal with this other than educating staff in the best use and best practice.

 

I think its up to the individual how they want to organise their inbox i.e. folders/rules, can you tell them how to organise their desk and paperwork? Those with logic would use a folder structure, I for one I very reliant on my email work and home so my Outlook is my key tool to my life!

 

Obviously educating about what to keep and what to not keep can be difficult, I must admit I do keep a lot of emails but do bin a lot and also unsubscribe from those I don't need.

 

The way forward I think is something like Office 365 these days which allows all sorts but when it comes to the work life balance, if its important someone needs to pick the phone up, if someone chooses to work in an evening they shouldn't expect a reply till the following day. I have a separate work phone and only have work emails on that, the only time I look at them out of hours is if I have a bit of a catch up on OWA to make my life simpler. I'd never expect someone to reply back to me, its not that important. If the individual choose to work late that's their choice but shouldn't expect a response.

[keyboards]

I got an email this morning at 4:50am

 

I think the biggest thing is honestly just don't be a dick, don't email late at night or silly times in the morning, it's the same as ringing phones and knocking on doors, it's just polite, common courtsey.

[DGardiner]

We've had this argument a bit internally recently, the ability to schedule send in gmail has been really helpful. i think we have settled on the stance of if you dont want to be bothered out of hours dont put email on your device or use built in settings to silence notifications for quiet hours - this is the end users responsibility and their choice.

 

But as a common courtesy people have been asked to make use of the schedule send when the email isn't urgently requiring attention.

[jthompson]

I got an email this morning at 4:50am

 

I think the biggest thing is honestly just don't be a dick, don't email late at night or silly times in the morning, it's the same as ringing phones and knocking on doors, it's just polite, common courtsey.

 

In our advice to staff we pointed them towards user guides for DND options on iOS and Android. If you don't want to be woken in the early hours by an email arriving on your own device, that's really your responsibility, not the sender's. But yeah, there is an element of courtesy involved and things like Gmail's scheduled send feature can help.

[keyboards]

In our advice to staff we pointed them towards user guides for DND options on iOS and Android. If you don't want to be woken in the early hours by an email arriving on your own device, that's really your responsibility, not the sender's. But yeah, there is an element of courtesy involved and things like Gmail's scheduled send feature can help.

It was over something completey non-urgent too, I could answer it three weeks it was that non-urgent.

Yeah I use that all the time, I'd hazard using that tool might be a step too far for some staff to work out.

[mikeprice]

I would say that there is a problem with out-of-hours things

 

I think it is perfectly reasonable for a teacher to be working late (e.g. after the kids have gone to bed) and to suddenly think about something they need IT for - or something they need to tell their HOD about etc etc and to be able to send off a quick email while they are thinking about it.

The sending of the email isn't a problem - it is the receiving of the email late that is the problem. This is always assuming that people recognise that emails are not real time conversations - they should be thought of as something the receiver will look at when they get round to it.

 

So - my question would be whether or not there is a system that can be used whereby everyone can set their own system up (with help if necessary) so that they only receive emails when they want to be available - plus normal core time presumably?

 

Of course there are 2 problems

1) what about people like network managers who could get a lot of normal emails that can easily be ignored until they look at emails in the morning - but could also get emails that are urgent and they need to know about NOW. Is there a system which can alert you to some emails and not others?

 

2) People - we have all arrived in work at some point and someone complains that we haven't replied to the email they sent yesterday - only to find they send it at silly o'clock and expected an immediate response. that would need to be dealt with somehow

 

 

 

At my last school the Head would ring be directly if there was a serious problem that I needed to know about - one example would be a closure due to snow as I was the best person to put messages on the web site and could also get into school quite quickly if they needed someone.

Anything else went on email and I would check when I got in. Actually I always checked over breakfast so I could think about things before I got in but that was just my choice - no-one knew about that.

[keyboards]

I think though people need to use the tools provided unless super urgent like the school is on fire or snow

 

Late at night, schedule send or drafts till the morning, add to keep/sticky notes, 99% the email isn't going to be vital that it needs to be sent that minute

 

People need to be more accountable to IT and others, rocking up 30 seconds before a guest or someone similar needs something urgent is totally inappropriate, I think we should be allowed to say no and that all requests have to be logged x days before, but trying do that and you'll end up in a meeting or the naughty list -ie the emails of someone emailing at 10pm for the next day and then next morning why isn't it setup

 

I have no issue the head or anyone ringing me if urgent

[Maurice_Moss]

If its for GDRP I'd make it mandatory for BYOD to be enrolled into 365's MDM.

 

For the sensitive email users I'd also consider egress integration.

 

But as they say . . . you can take a horse to the water but you can't make it set a strong password

[keyboards]

If its for GDRP I'd make it mandatory for BYOD to be enrolled into 365's MDM.

 

For the sensitive email users I'd also consider egress integration.

 

But as they say . . . you can take a horse to the water but you can't make it set a strong password

The amount of times I use that in meetings

 

"can we implent this"

 

Yeah fine, no real issue, give me a bit of time but.......I can't force people to use it or use it for them

Edited July 17, 2019 by keyboards

[msi_school]

In my opinion the school should set its expectations of core hours and then the users should set up a do not disturb on their equipment. This allows the individual user to decide when they are going to be informed of messages and to manage their own work flow.

 

Users how need to receive urgent email such as network managers have to set up their do not disturb rules carefully in order to triage these alerts however, if it actually urgent email is not the correct tool because the sender does not know if the recipient has received the message and is responding.

 

If the school is actually expecting you to pick up these urgent emails in the middle of the night there should be a process in place to compensate you for it, breaking up your sleep like this on a regular basis is really bad for you.

[Maurice_Moss]

The amount of times I use that in meetings

 

"can we implent this"

 

Yeah fine, no real issue, give me a bit of time but.......I can't force people to use it or use it for them

 

Indeed, we had our staff sit through a meeting. Although they enjoyed it, it seems that they didn't take anything forward.

[themightymrp]

Thank you for all the replies so far. It's good to know that people are generally of the same opinion as me - you can't force a particular stance. Training is the key really.

 

From looking around various sites I have managed to compile the below advice from numerous sources on how to handle emails. Thought it may be of interest...

 

 

• Use the subject line more effectively. Keep it on point, don't leave it blank!

• If the conversation goes off topic, change the subject line for replies

• Use Reply-all sparingly. In Office 365 force the default to Reply instead of Reply-All using Powershell

• Re-use sent emails. If a new email needs sending that is very similar to a previous one, edit it from Sent and change the details

• Start an email with a couple of brief sentences stating the intention of the email and the expected outcome. This keeps focus and will appear on email previews

• Don't mark emails as unread as you will just need to read them again later, wasting time. Action it now or 'flag it' or set as a task

• Keep emails short and to the point, specify deadlines on required actions if needed

• Emails between co-workers don't need to have a nice sign off at the end. It adds clutter to the email trail

• If you can't compose a detailed email response straight away, send a short email confirming you received it just to stop them pestering

• If using full Outlook client, make use of Quick Steps feature for delegation routines

• Organise emails into folders and use email rules

• Set up retention policies in O365 admin (a selection of), show staff how to assign them to their folders

• Use your best judgement, if you won't need an email again then delete it

• DO NOT use deleted items folder as storage

• Important emails should be saved offline. Make use of Print --> CutePDF (or similar)

• Unsubscribe from mailing lists of little relevance (try not to sign up to non work related systems with work email!)

• Use a messaging app for quick conversations - or meet in person/use the phone. E.g. Skype for Business feature or message boards/chat as part of VLE

• If CC'ing people into an email, state why they have been copied in. Otherwise they may ignore it or not action

•Don't feel you have to respond to all emails - some are information only.

[TechMonkey]

Only ones I have comment on are

 

 

• Important emails should be saved offline. Make use of Print --> CutePDF (or similar)

• If CC'ing people into an email, state why they have been copied in. Otherwise they may ignore it or not action

•Don't feel you have to respond to all emails - some are information only.

 

Getting staff to print emails out just seems redundant. If it is that important it should be transferred to another system such as the HR or MIS and there should be a process for that.

In my experience CC is a heads up or FYI. If someone needs to action something then they should be included in the To.

The final line is important and we go further and almost reverse it, reminding staff that people work differently and that if they send an email out of hours they should not expect an immediate reply, or an instant one when hours start back up.

[jthompson]

Something about using BCC for multiple external recipients would be useful, too.

[FishCustard]

• Don't mark emails as unread as you will just need to read them again later, wasting time. Action it now or 'flag it' or set as a task

 

• Organise emails into folders and use email rules

 

I realise that this is only advice, but these two fall foul of my "don't tell people how to work" rule.

 

 

I'd add a few others too:

 

 

• Use group email, and particularly all-staff email sparingly (assuming your groups aren't restricted so that only SLT, etc. can send to them)
  
• Keep use of emoji in professional communications to an absolute minimum, or do not use them at all.
  
• In longer emails, restate any action points or intended results at the bottom for clarity.
  

[themightymrp]

I like those, thanks!

[jthompson]

Don't automatically load images?