Survey Reveals Worst E-Mail Mistakes Made on the Job

MENLO PARK, Calif., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Most professionals have experienced
at least one cringe-inducing moment after they've hit "send," a new survey
suggests. Nearly eight in 10 advertising and marketing executives polled
confess they've made a mistake when sending e-mail. When asked to name the
worst snafu they or others they know have made on the job, the responses
ranged from erroneously sending out an employee's salary information to the
entire company to recalling a nasty e-mail about the boss that made its way to
top management.

The national survey was developed by The Creative Group, a specialized
staffing service providing marketing, advertising, creative and web
professionals on a project basis, and conducted by an independent research
firm. It is based on 250 telephone interviews -- 125 with advertising
executives randomly selected from the nation's 1,000 largest advertising
agencies and 125 with senior marketing executives randomly selected from the
nation's 1,000 largest companies.

Advertising and marketing executives were asked, "Have you ever mistakenly
e-mailed someone the wrong message or copied someone on a message without
intending to?" Their responses:

Yes.....................78%
No......................22%
100%

Survey respondents also were asked to describe the worst e-mail mistakes that
they or others they know have made. Among the responses:

-- "Someone sent out confidential salary information to the whole
firm."
-- "I once sent a job offer to the wrong person."
-- "An employee sent his resume to me by mistake. It was supposed to
go to an outside company."
-- "Someone made a nasty comment about a supervisor and it was sent to
the supervisor by mistake. It eventually led to dismissal."
-- "A person called another employee an idiot in an e-mail to everyone
in the company."
-- "One of our vendors accidentally e-mailed me information about
their sales performance, so I gained some inside knowledge about that
vendor."
-- "My receptionist sent a very gossipy and catty e-mail about another
employee to the wrong person. It was so unprofessional that she was
terminated."
-- "We sent an e-mail to a client that was meant for a vendor. It made
it difficult when the client had seen our costs."
-- "Confidential information about one client was sent to a different
client. It was certainly embarrassing."
-- "Someone crafted a scathing, sarcastic e-mail about a customer and
did not mean to hit 'send.' It caused problems."
-- "I once sent an internal memo about restroom etiquette to a
prospective client by accident."
-- "Someone sent me a copy of an employee's bank records by
mistake."
-- "Someone meant to send a racy picture to a couple of friends but
ended up sending it to the entire staff, which caused her much
embarrassment."

"E-mail mistakes can be painfully visible and viral," said Megan Slabinski,
executive director of The Creative Group. "Professionals must be especially
careful in this economy not to do anything that could cause employers to
question their competence or judgment, and that means paying close attention
when sending any kind of message, particularly if the information is
sensitive."

The Creative Group offers the following seven tips to help professionals avoid
e-mail errors:

1. Give it your undivided attention. Avoid multitasking when responding to
important or sensitive messages. If you can't respond right away,
let the person know when they can expect to hear back. Then, compose
the
e-mail when you're free of distractions.
2. Save the distribution list for last. When writing a confidential or
sensitive message, wait until it is complete before carefully selecting
the recipients. This will help you avoid sending out an incomplete
thought or selecting the wrong individuals.
3. Take care with those you copy. Think twice before hitting "reply
all," and only copy people who need to be in on the conversation.
4. Review it on a big screen. E-mailing using handheld devices with small
screens and keyboards may increase the likelihood of typos and other
mistakes. When sending an important e-mail, it can be helpful to view
it
on a full-size computer screen or use spell-check before transmitting.
5. Check attachments. Insert any documents -- and confirm that they're
the right ones -- as soon as you refer to them in the memo.
6. Don't hit "send" when you're seething. E-mailing when
you're angry is never a good idea. Give yourself time to cool down
before responding. It may be better to speak in person.

7. Keep it professional. Bear in mind that electronic messages can easily
be
forwarded and employee e-mails may be monitored. Avoid saying anything
unkind or unprofessional.

The Creative Group has offices in major markets across the United States and
in Canada, and offers online job search services at www.creativegroup.com.

SOURCE The Creative Group

Julie Sims of The Creative Group, +1-650-234-6104,
julie.sims@creativegroup.com