An Email Policy for Your Employees

1. Permitted Use

1.1 In an ideal world, employees would only use company email systems for business purposes. In reality however, this is unlikely.

• You cannot stop employees receiving personal emails.
• Allowing some personal use of email may improve your employees' morale, and even efficiency.

1.2 Limit personal use.

You might prohibit:

• Excessive personal use of email.
• Inappropriate or illegal content (see 2.3). Offensive jokes can be a particular problem.
• Engaging in illegal activities. For example, using email to harass someone or deliberately sending a virus.
• Encrypting personal emails and attachments.
• Running a personal business while at work.

1.3 Set out when email should and should not be used (see 3).