{"id":3777,"date":"2021-11-22T10:36:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T15:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/?p=3777"},"modified":"2021-11-22T10:36:26","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T15:36:26","slug":"youve-got-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/youve-got-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve Got Mail \u2013 A Balancing Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephanie Engel, energi PR’s <\/em><\/span><\/strong>Senior Vice President, Client Services, shares her perspective on company email policy and etiquette.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Email, as one of my colleagues\u00a0recently noted, is both a blessing and a curse.\u00a0\u00a0For obvious reasons of course.\u00a0While\u00a0the information wasn\u2019t new, the\u00a0phrasing really struck me.\u00a0As someone who feels compelled to check \u2013 and respond \u2013 to emails constantly,\u00a0I felt her words summed up my relationship with electronic communication perfectly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fittingly, she made the observation in an email reinstating an agency email policy which had long fallen by the wayside. The impact of COVID, and the burnout of WFH, made us realize it was time to bring the guidelines back. We needed to reset and give ourselves, and each other, a break.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The policy is straightforward and addresses etiquette for during and after office hours.\u00a0It\u00a0limits the sending of emails between\u00a0business hours\u00a0and on\u00a0weekends and\u00a0encourages employees to check their\u00a0inbox\u00a0at set\u00a0times\u00a0during the workday,\u00a0rather than be always-on.\u00a0In a sense,\u00a0the policy\u00a0gives us\u00a0a\u00a0permission to detach\u00a0that\u00a0we might not have given ourselves.\u00a0There are exceptions to the rule of course, such\u00a0as a\u00a0client emergency\u00a0or the lead-up to a launch,\u00a0but for the most part the policy is in effect.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the biggest offenders in the office, the\u00a0new set of rules meant I had to shift my way of working.\u00a0Rather than send a late-night note if\u00a0I had a sudden\u00a0brainwave\u00a0or was catching up\u00a0on\u00a0my\u00a0to-do list, I had to check myself.\u00a0Now when the allure of email calls\u00a0to me\u00a0outside of working hours, I craft a note and put it in my drafts folder until the sun rises.\u00a0It\u2019s been a struggle, and I\u2019ve had to sit on my hands a few times to\u00a0refrain from hitting send, but it\u2019s getting better.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure the intended recipient appreciates it as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also had to curb my tendency of\u00a0frequent email check-ins.\u00a0My nature,\u00a0coupled with years of agency training, saw me\u00a0online all the time\u00a0\u2013 and very often responding in real time,\u00a0Saturday nights and Christmas Day notwithstanding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So how has the policy impacted me? Well, for starters, it\u00a0brings a calmness to the day (most of the time, I do work in a PR agency after all!)\u00a0and\u00a0has given\u00a0me time back to devote to other things. Although I do some of my best work \u2013 particularly writing,\u00a0in the quiet of the evening (deadlines\u00a0permitting), I\u2019m doing more of it during the day\u00a0and spending more time getting back to the things I love like networking,\u00a0mentoring,\u00a0creativity and research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also learning to step back and be more strategic about when and how I respond to an email. While\u00a0I\u2019m always thoughtful in my responses,\u00a0this way I can consider various items and send a consolidated\u00a0response, rather than follow-ups with additional items\u00a0I may have forgotten in the first go-round.\u00a0I\u2019m also prioritizing\u00a0the requests,\u00a0and determining what needs to be responded to immediately, and what can wait until\u00a0later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the best part, I\u2019m slowly feeling more and more like my evenings and weekends are my own and\u00a0able to fully enjoy them.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying\u00a0I\u2019ve completely stopped the constant check-ins, I\u2019m\u00a0definitely still\u00a0guilty, but it\u2019s getting easier.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So,\u00a0while email might be a blessing and a curse, I\u2019m trying to find\u00a0my middle ground. I\u2019m still\u00a0navigating\u00a0my way through the email policy, and there have been some slip-ups and will continue to be.\u00a0That said,\u00a0practice makes\u00a0perfect,\u00a0and I\u2019m committed to\u00a0getting there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more visit \u202fwww.energipr.com<\/a>\u202f and follow us on LinkedIn<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before you dismiss PR or assume it’s a piece of cake to generate top tier coverage, understand what it takes to create compelling news and capture the attention of career journalists. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41],"class_list":["post-3777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nouvelles-fr","tag-agencies-fr","tag-agency-fr","tag-communications-fr","tag-coverage-fr","tag-journalists-fr","tag-media-fr","tag-media-relations-fr","tag-pr-fr","tag-pr-agency-fr","tag-public-relations-fr","tag-reputation-fr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energipr.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}