14 Nov 2008

Learning to be done on email, expert says

Many workers are unaware of the potential consequences of content they write in work-related emails, an expert has warned.

Rupert Goodwins, editor of IT website ZDNet.co.uk, said that many workers need to realise that emailed content can come back to haunt them, even five years after they have sent it.

Email has overtaken telephony to become the main communication tool used in the workplace, revealed research by IT services and solutions provider Dimension Data in August 2007.

In advice that might be heeded by IT firms using hosted email solutions, Mr Goodwins said employees should be aware that every time they send an email they are committing its contents "to the record".

"For people who don't think in these terms there's some learning to be done," he added.

Companies' code of conducts and ethics guidelines have taken into account that email content will hang around and can be called upon in the event of a problem - and people should recognise this, Mr Goodwins suggested.