If your company is having problems with employees and their email usage it might not be the employee’s fault. When was the last time your employees reviewed the company’s email policies? If you can’t answer that question then it means that there is a problem with communication.

It should be standard practice that all employees are required to sign a document upon acceptance of employment that they will abide by the rules and policies regarding email usage whilst employed at the company. It should also be mandatory that employees review and sign the agreement each year or every six months whilst employed.

This brings up the question of what exactly should go into an acceptable Email Usage Policy.

You need to be clear that the ownership of email accounts belong to the company. The employees are users who have been supplied or provisioned with email accounts to facilitate their jobs. This means that they have no privacy nor should they expect privacy since they are using a company’s email servers. This also means that the company has the right to review all emails that it receives. The company can also block or reject emails based on origin, content, usage or any other criteria. It should also be noted that email access can be limited or restricted by the company.

Specify that email usage should also comply with any and all laws including but not limited to: city, county, state and federal. It is important that employees understand that the company itself has to comply with legal and regulatory agencies as well. Therefore, email users, by virtue of being employees of the company, must comply also.

It doesn’t hurt to also include expectations that the company has of employees in terms of the ethical nature of their emails. Most all companies have a mission statement that includes comments about the values of the company. An email usage policy should reflect those values.

And just as a company car is used to conduct official business and is not for personal use so it should also be noted that company email is to be used only for official company business and not personal use.

Make certain that employees understand that they are not to distribute their email and they are expected to protect their email accounts including passwords and usernames. They are responsible and accountable for all email use and misuse of their email accounts even if access permission has been given to a non-employee.

Be diligent in the enforcement and distribution of your company email usage policies. Review your company-wide policy once a year and make changes when needed so as not to fall behind as new communication devices are introduced into the workplace each year.