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Millions of emails are sent from workstations every day of the week. Companies spend vast amounts of money on having this facility made available to their employees. Email speeds up communication between departments and is a lot cheaper than using the phone. Companies take the use and abuse of their email facility very seriously and employ whole departments to control the flow of what we send and who we send it to.

The I.T department is responsible for monitoring the employees use of email while they are at work. Tools that are employed in tackling this monstrous task are word recognition software applications for one. This clever software is designed to flag up any profanities or inappropriate words being sent via the company email. Any employee found guilty of such gross misconduct usually are dismissed very swiftly indeed.

Another thing the I.T department are looking for are attachments sent within the email. Many of us will have received quizzes in the form of excel attachments or funny pictures in the form of a jpeg file. Managers are very keen on stamping out these non-work related emails as they decrease productivity by the employee because they are too busy working out the film title instead of inputting the companies finances etc. The I.T department has again got tools at its disposal to monitor the genre of attachments and will have at least one member of the team randomly checking attachments with suspicious titles to see what they contain.

When emailing in the office you should always be aware that you are being monitored by big brother and should keep your emails professional at all times. Never swear in an email, this is a certain way of alerting the I.T departments systems that you are abusing the company facilities.

Never send your mate who works in the next department a jpeg file of some scantily clad male/female. It is another sure fire way of being summonsed to the bosses office to explain your actions. In at least half of such incidents the employee responsible will be asked to pack their belongings and leave.

With all the differing rules that each company adopts with regards to its email protocol it is a must that you read the email usage section of the employee rule handbook carefully. The employees bible will clearly let you know what is expected and deemed as fair usage and compliance of the company email facility. Some companies may allow you to email friends during your lunch break, if this isn't listed in the do's and dont's then ask your line manager to be sure.

It is common for employees to be dismissed for abusing company email. They didn't have the common sense to realize that it is the companies easiest way of keeping an eye on what its staff are up to. It is wise advice to all those who have use of company email to keep the content strictly work related. Mail your friends when you get home, you won't run the risk of getting sacked there.

Learn more about this author, Neil Dixon.
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