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Office e-mails can be tricky. In my line of work, I get a lot of e-mail from staff in particular. Here are a few things that you may want to keep in mind:

One of the essentials is that you should remember your e-mail is likely not private. You should never write anything in an office e-mail that you wouldn't want your boss and CEO to read. You probably don't want to detail the steamy incident you had in the copy room when the potential for it being circulated, by accident to everyone on your e-mail list is present. Also, you lose control of the e-mail once it leaves your computer, so even if you don't accidentally forward it to someone you don't think should be reading it, there is nothing preventing a recipient from doing so, purposefully or accidentally.

If you choose to forward any of the "junk" e-mails that you have received (we've all seen those e-mails letting us know we will be cursed if we don't forward it to ten people in the next two minutes) you might want to think long and hard about who is receiving it. As a supervisor, I may start to wonder about how you are using your time at the office.

You will want to be careful about accessing pornography and sending it via e-mail. While this may seem self evident, I know people who have been accused of being sexually harassing due to forwarding porn.

You should be careful about your word choice and spelling in an e-mail. You may look like you shouldn't get the next promotion if you can't write coherently in your communications, particularly in a field where communication skills are important.

Finally, be careful how you sign off your e-mail. If it is a professional e-mail, you want to keep your closing sufficiently formal without being stuffy. You can allude to personal things (e.g. Have a good weekend) but you need to be careful not to cross the line into being too friendly. I often sign an e-mail with my name only, if I don't know the recipient well.

Keep these guidelines in mind, and you should never be in trouble with the use of your office e-mails.

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