Failure to Implement a Corporate Email Policy

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Failure to Implement a Corporate Email Policy
Is Tantamount to Commercial Negligence

It doesn’t matter whether your organization employees just a single part-time worker or hundreds of thousands of full-time staff, granting access to your corporate email system places your organization’s assets, reputation and even its very existence at risk.

Misuse of the email system, whether it be accidental or intentional, can result in direct financial penalties as well as negative publicity and damage to reputation, both of which are likely to have long term impacts on your firm’s bottom line.

According to the 2002 Computer Securities Institute/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, 78% of employers reported staff abusing email and the Internet systems whilst at work.

SO WHAT CONSTITUTES MISUSE?

Unfortunately, there numerous ways your company’s email system may be used inappropriately. These threats are greater due to the informal and viral nature of email communication. This article focuses on some of the key risks a company is more greatly exposed to without a successfully implemented corporate email policy.

BREACH OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Email is a simple way for a disgruntled employee to disseminate information of a confidential or sensitive nature to the company. A breach of confidential information is likely to result in competitive disadvantage - it could lead to the loss a specific sales contract for a new prospect, the loss of an existing client, or expose your business strategy or tactics, providing opportunities for a competitor to exploit this information at your organization’s expense.

LEGAL LIABILITY

In most cases, employers rather than employees are held legally responsible for the content of messages transmitted via their corporate email systems. Similarly, legal action brought about as a consequence of misuse may lead to severe financial penalties imposed by a court.

8% of firms have had sexual discrimination claims from current or former employees because of inappropriate use of email or the Internet by employees. In one case, $2.2 million was paid by the Chevron Corporation to four female employees to settle a suit in which the women had claimed jokes sent via Chevron’s email system amounted to sexual harassment.

Your firm’s legal liability however, is not just limited to claims by employees. In a well known case in the United Kingdom, a leading insurance company, Norwich Union was ordered to pay more than $675,000 to a rival insurer, Western Provident, following the disclosure of libelous emails originating between staff inside the company claiming Western Provident was in financial trouble.

Email messages are subject to the same legal obligations as other forms of communication and may be submitted to courts as evidence. In fact, 10% of US employers have been subpoenaed to produce employee emails in lawsuits.

LOSS OF PRODUCTIVITY

Although statistics vary, numerous surveys tell us that a significant proportion of email transmitted via a corporate email system is not business related.

Loss of productivity caused by staff using the corporate email system for personal use can, in addition to the lost work-time, lead to increased IT network traffic and storage requirements, whilst also increasing the organizations vulnerability to the introduction of viruses to the corporate network.

All these have cost implications in one form or another as well as exposing the company to unnecessary security, reputational and legal threats.

RISKS ARISING FROM EMAIL RECEIVED

Email risks do not always arise from direct employee misuse but from third parties sending unsolicited or other email to staff within the organization. However, if employees are not aware of how they are expected to deal with these offending emails (specifically what they should not do), the risks can still be realized, sometimes to devastating effect.

EMPLOYEES OF ALL LEVELS CAN SUBJECT THE COMPANY TO RISK

Be aware, it is not always inexperienced or disgruntled employees who expose an organization to these risks. There are numerous examples of senior professionals - including CEOs of both large and small corporations as well lawyers who should know better - who have damaged their company’s reputation by sending emails of an inappropriate nature which have been leaked to the media or posted on the Internet.

Neal Patterson, CEO of Cerner Corporation, was upset at his employees' level of commitment to the company so he decided to email to his managers. However, the tone and content of the email, instead of having the desired effect just alienated staff and resulted in it being leaked to the media. Cerner's stock slipped 22 percent in just 3 days and its reputation as well as that of its CEO was severely tarnished.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

According to a recent survey conducted by the American Management Association, a staggering 52% of employers fail to educate their employees regarding both the risks of electronic communication and their own company policies.

COMMERCIAL NEGLIGENCE

Failure to draft, publish and successfully implement a corporate email policy is, given the risks, tantamount to commercial negligence. Although a successfully implemented policy will never eradicate the risks in their entirety, it will eliminate unintentional and ignorant misuse, which shouldn’t be understated.

BENEFITS OF AN EFFECTIVE POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

An effective Email Policy establishes a comprehensive set of rules and guidelines to enable your organization to effectively manage these risks. It allows you to communicate the standards and behaviors expected of employees and provides a blueprint for the effective management and use of email.

Similar threats may arise if you enable staff to access the internet. It is therefore good practice to implement a separate corporate internet policy in conjunction with your email policy to address these, minimizing the risk of misuse and resultant threats from both these highly valuable but potentially dangerous tools.

Additionally, in the event of a policy breach, effective policies provide grounds for disciplinary action and will demonstrate to any legal authority your organization’s commitment to taking the issues seriously and following best practice.

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