Internal Communications—It's Not Rocket Science - Government of ...

E L E C T R O N I CE-mailE-mail is the easiest way to deliver consistent, timely information to staff – andoften is the most misused.Good For• departments where most staff have regular access to e-mailPros• A consistent message about an issue can be quickly shared with many staff.• It is fast and inexpensive.• The message can be prepared in advance and scheduled for delivery at a latertime or date.• Attachments can be included or links provided to additional online information.• Recipients can respond to the message (this can be turned off as circumstanceswarrant).Cons• It can be perceived as TMI – too much information – or corporate spam.• E-mail is impersonal.• It is easy for the sender, not always appropriate for the audience.• It benefits only staff who work in close proximity to a computer; a highwayworker might hear news on the radio before seeing an e-mail on the topic.• Some managers like to hide behind e-mail.• It is easy to use e-mail to be, or appear to be, rude or discourteous.DetailsE-mail is a two-edged sword. On the plus side, it’s cheap and it’s easy to quicklysend the same information to a lot of people. On the minus side, it’s cheap andit’s easy to quickly send the same information to a lot of people.40I N T E R N A L C O M M U N I C A T I O N S : I T ’ S N O T R O C K E T S C I E N C E !