Email Culture

In 2023, the Emory School of Medicine provided Tips for Setting Email Boundaries to Improve Well-Being and Best Practices for Email Etiquette. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences have reviewed this guidance and modified it for communication within our department. We hope that this document will be useful to all faculty, staff and learners as we strive to create an email culture that facilitates effective but manageable communication.

• Have conversations within your work group(s) about expectations (e.g., related to response time and time when emails are sent, communication about urgent matters), norms and optimal ways to communicate with one another in a manner that is sensitive to:
  • Power dynamics
  • Types of emails
    • Task emails
    • Personal emails
  • People’s work hours and habits related to reading, writing and responding to emails

• Do not use email for urgent clinical matters
  • Use alternative agreed upon methods of communication that immediately connect you with the person with whom you want to communicate (e.g., EPIC chat, text, phone call, in person interaction)
• Be thoughtful when sending emails regarding challenging issues or strong emotions
  • Consider whether it would be more effective to discuss the issue in person (e.g., phone, virtual, physical meeting) rather than via email
  • Consider reading such emails aloud prior to sending
  • Consider saving it in your drafts and re-reading it (including aloud) before sending
  • Consider having someone else review the email before sending
  • Be mindful about using capital letters, as these can be perceived as expressing anger or shouting in the context of a difficult email
• Mark as high importance(!) emails that require a timely response and respond to such emails in a timely manner
  • This should be used infrequently, but example for acceptable use include grant sign off with quick turn around
• Use “read receipt” sparingly
• When following up on a nonresponse to an email that requires a response, indicate a specific date of when you need to hear back and an assumption of what a nonresponse means
• Be thoughtful about when you send emails and the expectation about response time
  • Consider “delay send” or “schedule send” option to deliver messages during typical business hours
• To reduce stress on the recipient, consider adding tag line on nonurgent/non time sensitive requests – Examples
  • Receiving this email outside of normal working hours? Managing work and life responsibilities is unique for everyone. I have sent this email at a time that works for me. Please respond at a time that works for you. 
  • I send emails at times that are convenient for me. Please do not feel the need to respond if they are outside of your regular working hours.
  • If you are receiving this email on weekends or after hours, I do not expect a response until your working hours.
  • This isn’t urgent so get to it whenever you can.
  • Thank you for your message. I am working on a time sensitive project and only checking my email periodically. You can expect a response from me within X hours/days.
    • Note - And then people do not need to apologize if they do not respond until working hours.
  • The following is some guidance regarding when to limit who receives an email
    • Disciplinary emails only need to go to the individual being disciplined and any pertinent leaders
    • Acknowledgement of receipt only needs to go to the sender
  • Be thoughtful about sending public versus private congratulatory emails based on the specific group culture, the recipient(s) of the email, your role and the nature of what is being congratulated
    • If you are part of a group culture in which many people send public congratulations, you can use the ignore all button to not see all the congratulations
    • People appreciate receiving congratulatory emails from leaders
    • Do not make assumptions about who does/does not congratulate people as this may occur privately
  • Be thoughtful about Blind Carbon Copies (Bcc)
    • Bcc can be a useful tool to communicate information to large groups when either replying to all is not appropriate and/or it is unnecessary for recipients to be aware of the recipients
    • Bcc should not be used for direct or personal communications (e.g., reprimands) as it blocks transparency and breaks trust
  • Consider an in person (e.g., phone, virtual, physical meeting) meeting when several email exchanges do not lead to a resolution and a paper trail is not necessary
  • Consider the following email etiquette:
    • Including salutations (e.g., Dear, Hello/Hi) and closing (e.g., Regards, Thank You) in email communications for relationships in which there are power dynamics (e.g., faculty-learner) or when the relationships is more formal or the communication calls for more formality
    • Making subject lines as specific as possible especially if it is a follow-up
    • Including proper sign offs
    • Put [secure] in the subject line for emails with patient information or other confidential information (only needed when sending from an Emory/Emory Healthcare email to an external address)

• Consider the following before replying all:
  • The appropriate recipients of the message
    • Who needs to receive the communication/information
    • What is the content of the communication
  • Use discretion when adding people to emails removing information that may not be needed for additional parties