What would you do? E-mail jokes bother co-workers
Filed under: Communication, Employee computer use, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Everyone likes hearing a joke every now and then. But where should HR draw the line regarding employees who are addicted to forwarding humorous e-mails to the entire office?
Take this situation:
An employee is a good performer and always gets his work done. But he also sends funny e-mail messages to all of his co-workers on a seemingly constant basis.
He claims they’re enjoyed by a lot of people, aren’t offensive and help keep co-workers happy — and the habit hasn’t interfered with his ability to work. But his manager has started getting complaints from co-workers who don’t like seeing the e-mails multiple times a day.
He’s been asked to stop, but keeps sending the messages. His boss comes to HR for advice: Is it worth disciplining or even firing someone over something like silly e-mail forwards? Should the guy get some slack because of his performance?
We asked three HR managers how they’d handle this problem:
Response #1: It might help to get IT involved so they can explain to him that sending unnecessary e-mails to whole company wastes valuable computing resources. He might think his behavior is harmless, so we have to show him there are tangible consequences.
Response #2: He might be a high performer, but he’s showing poor judgment and a lack of concern for others by not putting a stop to the e-mails. I’d take a hard line and tell him e-mail is for business use only — and if his behavior continues, there’ll be serious consequences.
Response #3: An appropriate disciplinary action might be to temporarily suspend his e-mail access. That should let him know the company is taking his co-workers’ complaints seriously.
What about you — if you were in this situation, how would you handle it? Give us your opinion in the comments section below.
Comments
3 Comments on What would you do? E-mail jokes bother co-workers
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Nancy on
Tue, 17th Feb 2009 2:32 pm
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Marie on
Tue, 17th Feb 2009 2:55 pm
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Tony starks on
Tue, 24th Mar 2009 6:23 pm
If he’s sending all these jokes, then he’s probably also taking company time to surf the web and find the jokes and then type or copy/paste them into the email. I don’t care how productive he is, he’s wasting company assets – his time and his co-workers time. I’d immediately remove his internet access and give him a written warning.
He is misusing co email, his time and his co-worker’s time. The time issue could be considered theft—he and others are not working when they should be and are getting paid for it. Sure, it is minimal time a day, but depending on how frequent and how lengthy the emails, the cumulative time is significant.
Additionally, if these jokes are coming from the outside, there is a risk of viruses or worms that could damage the IT system.
Rarely will an employer pounce on a one time situation, but it if is frequent, that is abusing the opportunity. Also, while this ee may be not sending offensive material, someone else may not have the same discretion and the line will be crossed causing other issues.
How about all you? are you at work right now looking at HR blunders and responding to these amusing anecdotes?
