Dear All,
It has come to our notice that several unsolicited emails that may be carrying viruses are being received by members of the staff. In order to protect the company’s equipment and data from virtual threats, we have formed a new policy regarding the receiving and opening of such emails.
As per the Unsolicited and Ambiguous Email (UAE) policy, employees are strictly restricted from opening any email that they have received from unknown sources. Employees are requested to exercise extreme caution when opening emails with suspicious subject lines too. Unsolicited emails often carry electronic viruses that may infect their computer systems and potentially cause serious damage to the equipment as well as loss of crucial data. Such emails can also access the employees email contact list and automatically send a forward mail to everyone on the list, thus spreading the virus among a vast user base.
As a precautionary measure, the IT department will be installing updated anti-virus software on all desktop computers as well as laptops. The installation of the software will take approximately 15 minutes and will be conducted during lunch breaks in order to reduce impact of employee productivity and any inconveniences caused due to unavailability of the computer. Employees may expect a member of the IT team to visit them over the next two days. Should your system not get updated during this period, kindly get in touch with the IT department to arrange for an installation.
The software being used has features that can detect possibly infected emails. Should employees receive any such mail in their Inbox, they will be notified by a prompt and will not be able to open the email. If any such email needs to be opened, employees will need to contact members of the IT team who will then retrieve the email in a safe manner. A list of the names and extension numbers of IT team members to be contacted in such situations is attached with this email.
Employees are requested to contact the administration department at Admin@xyzco.com if they have any questions or need further clarification on this account. We thank you for your cooperation and solicit your support in keeping the systems and data of the company safe and secure.
Best regards
Summary
The mail being sent is a business communication relaying the formation of a new policy pertaining to the hazards of and precautions against the opening of unsolicited emails by employees of the company. This topic is crucial for the safety of any company’s equipment and data as shown by the loss faced by Ford in the year 2000 due to the opening of unsolicited email by its employees. The email is being sent by the management to all its employees. It is meant to be an announcement of the policy and does not require any form of persuasion or convincing. For this reason, the email only contains details of the policy and its implementation and includes details on why the policy is being implemented on when it is absolutely required. Being an announcement, the email is written in a formal format.
However, as any policy would need to be understood by everyone for it to be executed effectively, the language used is formal yet confusing business jargon is avoided. Points of writing an effective email listed by Dennis G. Jerz and Jessica Bauer have been followed. The email is broken up into five parts: a) the announcement of a new policy and the main cause of its formation, b) what the policy is, c) how the policy will be implemented, d) what the implementation will achieve, and e) thank you note and closure with a call for cooperation. The tone of the email has been set as formal yet not stern to communicate the seriousness of the matter yet encourage employee cooperation.
Works Cited
Christensen, Jay. "Professional Email Needs Attention." 26 December 2009. www.csun.edu. 5 April 2011 <http://www.csun.edu/~vcecn006/email.html#Love>.
Jerz, Dennis G. and Jessica Bauer. "Jerz's Literacy Weblog." 8 March 2011. Jerz's Literacy Weblog. 5 April 2011 <http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/>.
