Professional Courtesy on Responding to Email Communications During the Pandemic

26 February 2021

TO        :               Lasallian Community

FR        :               Br. Bernard S. Oca FSC
                             Chancellor

RE        :               Professional Courtesy on Responding to Email Communications during the pandemic

Email has its merits as a communication medium, especially when information relayed may not necessarily be time-sensitive.  The current situation, however, has subjected us to using email as a dominant mode of communication to transact, report incidents, issues, and concerns.

Given this reality, we enjoin everyone, as a form of courtesy for both sender and recipient, to observe the following practices when using our official email accounts for correspondence.

1. Send and correspond only using our official @dlsu.edu.phemails.

2. For the recipient of emails:

• • Periodically read your emails. Have a regular and predictable daily schedule of going through your emails.
  • Acknowledge emails received. Consider a simple quick response to your sender to acknowledge having received the email. Acknowledging an email can be distinguished from directly responding or acting specifically to the content of the email.

• Leverage the auto-reply functionality of Google mail. Please check this Youtube video for configuring auto-reply and creating canned responses:

• Have a mechanism to manage your emails and tasks. Here are nifty tips leveraging our Google-powered emails:

1. To use filters or to configure them:
   
2. To use email filters to enable your workflow:
   
3. To maximize Google mail by creating Calendar Events or Google Tasks:

• Email periodic feedback within a reasonable period or depending on the urgency or importance of the communication. Acknowledge the concern of the person waiting for your communication, even if it is just to say that there is no update yet.

3. For the sender of emails:

• Use “Reply All” if it is appropriate and if it cannot be avoided.
• Have a clear, direct Subject line.
• Be precise and provide clear actionable items or desired outcomes at the end of your message.

As the University continues to seek up-to-date and suitable technology platforms to further improve our task management and workflow, may these simple tips help you manage our work-from-home setup.

Credit to the Simpletivity Channel in Youtube for the video links provided.

Thank you.