Keeping Your E-Mail Trouble-Free
E-MAIL POLICIES
Strict policies can limit a company's exposure to lawsuits. The Prudential Insurance Company of America, for example, tells workers their E-mail is monitored and bars transmission of jokes, pornographic material, and other nonbusiness messages.
STORAGE GUIDELINES
Companies should develop ways to sort and store important messages and purge the rest. With the volume of E-mails running into the millions per month, such policies are critical to responsible record-keeping.
IN-HOUSE TRAINING
Employee training on proper E-mail use can help companies prove good faith in court contests. Cohasset is developing an interactive E-mail education program, for example, that's modeled after software used to train Air Force fighter pilots how to spot trouble.
MONITORING SOFTWARE
New programs can help flag inappropriate E-mail, such as offensive jokes. Hughes Hubbard & Reed, a New York law firm, is developing MailCop, a program that alerts workers with flashing on-screen warnings when their incoming and outgoing E-mail may be in violation of company policy.
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