Reminder of Key Company Policy on acceptable use of Email and text messaging
I would like to begin by offering warm greetings to all employees of the company.
It has come to my attention that many employees are not following the company policies about the use of email and text messaging. I have therefore taken the time to come up with a brief reminder of some key company policies. The following are the major policies adopted by the company about email and text communication.
Security Issues
Strict security policies are enforced by the company and all employees are supposed to follow the same at all times. The antivirus software and firewalls installed in each computer should always be running and employees should avoid opening attachments from unknown sources (Vacca, 2009). Any employee who violates the company’s security policy will be held accountable for any damages that result from this. Every employee will be held accountable for any activity that takes place using their account and for this reason, always ensure that you keep your passwords secure and do not share your accounts with others.
Privacy Issues
Protecting the privacy of each employee is a key priority for the company. The company does not approve of any employee accessing electronic mail and text messages belonging to other employees just to satisfy their curiosity (Vacca, 2009). Any employee who engages in such activity will have violated company policy and will be liable for disciplinary action.
Company Monitoring Policy
Increasing the productivity of every employee is a key goal of the company. For this reason, it is necessary to ensure that all communication efforts undertaken during work hours and using company resources are aimed at achieving the company ends. For this reason, the company reserves the right to monitors all electronic communication (Vacca, 2009). Please be advised that all messages that you send or receive on the email system or office phone can be accessed by the company. Records of messages may be archived in the company’s central server and as such, deleting message contents from your computer or phone may not delete the content from the system.
Personal Communications
It has been noted that the majority of the employees are using the company system to send personal email messages. While the company recognizes that it may be necessary for employees to make personal communications within hours, this use should be limited (Barman, 2001). Employees who abuse company resources for personal use shall face disciplinary action. Moderation of use is therefore encouraged and in case you are unsure as to how much use is excessive, kindly consult your supervisor.
Harassment
Engaging in harassment is strictly prohibited and the company has a zero-tolerance policy on all forms of harassment. The use of a company computer to transmit or store objectionable material is strictly prohibited (Barman, 2001). Any employee who shall be found guilty of sending harassing messages either to other employees or to our clients shall face immediate disciplinary action. The company does approve of its employee’s sending unsolicited email messages from within the company’s network.
Please note that the company’s intentions for giving this reminder are not to impose any restrictions on you but rather to enhance your performance and protect the company, its employees, and clients.
In case of any inquiries concerning the information provided here, kindly contact the HR department. You can also review the policy procedure manual which addresses each of these issues in greater detail.
References
Barman, S. (2001). Writing information security policies. Indianapolis: Sams Publishing.
Vacca, J.R. (2009). Computer and information security handbook. Massachusetts: Morgan Kaufmann.