Email Business Correspondence, Essay Example

Introduction

Introduction of email and the internet changed the entire world and business correspondence was not an exception. Business email consists of some features of each and every previously known form of business correspondence (business faxes, memos and letters) making it an absolutely unique business tool (Lawrence). Email entails a combination of formal written communication, informal speech and instant delivery; this is the case even in business (Lawrence). Fax was only the form of business correspondence in a position of delivering itself prior to email which delivers a message easier and quicker, hence sending an email substituted faxing. Though email became so popular since it facilitated an approximately instant communication, its effectiveness has been coupled with several challenges as well. For instance, emails sent to clients by staff members with grammatical mistakes and other errors, have had a negative impact on the relationship with clients. There have been calls to hold special sessions for every employee to improve on the same, and to terminate those who do not achieve this goal within a given period.

The ability of an email to be delivered almost instantly might start working against the business if not handled with care. According to Daily mail, Research has shown that an average employee works productively for just 4 hours a day, while the remaining time is spent on unnecessary gossiping, emails, surfing in the internet and phone calls. An average employee in an average office receives approximately 200-300 email or more per day (Daily mail). It is obvious that, in an effort to respond to these emails instantly, any person would make mistakes either grammatically or otherwise. This is an extreme problem that necessitates extreme solutions. Business survives on the continued relationship with its clients who acts as repeat customers and also give referrals hence ensuring growth of the business, and hence the staff should follow the due care while communicating with them. This implies that call for the special sessions should be welcomed since this works towards the achievement of this goal.

However, terminating the employees who fail to achieve this objective is as extreme doing away with email usage altogether, since it will not have addressed the root cause of the problem i.e. handling large volume of emails received by every worker and requiring instant response. By terminating these employees, the company incurs unnecessary expenses of hiring and training fresh employees in addition to compensating the fired worker. This scenario is worsened by the fact that, the new employee once faced with similar challenges as the former, ends up committing the same mistakes.

Conclusion

Email is a convenient and necessary tool for business correspondence. Staff members make mistakes while communicating with clients especially grammatical ones and special sessions aimed improving the same are necessary. Those employees who fail to achieve the same should be developed on the same line rather than being terminated as the latter doesn’t achieve the intended goal and might result in time and money wastage.

Works Cited

“Email time bandits: Office staffs do just FOUR hours’ work a day because of the avalanche of messages.” Mail Online. 17 April 2008. O2 Nov. 2009. < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-560166/Email-time-bandits-Office-staff-just-FOUR-hours-work-day-avalanche-messages.html>

Lawrence, Kevin. Optimizing E-mail: Stay productive not busy. 25 July, 2008. < http://www.sitepronews.com/2008/07/25/optimizing-e-mail-stay-productive-not-busy/>