Importance of Professional Email in Business Communication
Communication is an important aspect of business management. organizational leaders need to develop professional messages to pass across to employees in an appropriate manner, while employees need to communicate professionally with managers. Unprofessional communication can cause misunderstanding and conflicts in the workplace, leading to poor work relationships.
In the new age of technology, emails are becoming an important way of passing messages to internal and external stakeholders. However, the email should be kept as professional as possible. Below you will find one unprofessional email, and a revised professional email. The first email is casual while the second is a professional email that captures the essence of the message in the most professional way possible.
Unprofessional Email Sample
Subject Heading for Email: Changes To Be Considered
Dear Boss Lauren,
Thanks for reading this message!
I have heard a great deal about all of yur accomplishments (CFO — Chief Financial Officer — of Solar Enterprises and Managing Director of Accounting at Enviro Tech for example) so Iʼm thrilled to be meeting you, and Iʼm looking forward to seeing you because of the many great things Iʼve heard. You are
- Very engaging
- Very quick
- Well informed
I know you want to meet on Monday, October 14th. That day is really bad. I mean really really bad. Iʼm very busy, and Iʼm sure you are to so letʼs bag it. I have a number of reports that are due on the 14th, and I need to fulfill my responsibilities regarding those reports. I really canʼt emphasize how important that material is for me. You may or may not understand because you are just starting at Tech-Shield. Simply put, I can meet on the 16th, so letʼs make that the date if you are OK with it.
Now, letʼs talk about what is wrong with the company in case you like the recommendation and prior understanding of the problems weʼve had — and boy, weʼve had some problems! Here is my opinion:
1) We are not paid enough because of all the budget strain and the expenses we incur
2) We never get to wear Hawaiian shirts
3) There is a gender imbalance in the work force
4) Promotions have been based on nepotism
5) The company requires us to work well above fifty (50) hours a week.
6) There is no opportunity for advancement
7) I am frequently asked to work on short notice
8) I am expected to travel every other week (and this everyone thinks is unnecessary)
Ms. Wilson, your knowledge and expertise are critically important to this company, and many of my co-workers, myself included, hope to benefit under your supervision. I welcome a meeting at your convenience, and, aside from a minor commitment I have on 14 October, I would be excited to discuss your ideas and the direction of the company.
But you already know that. Let me get right to the point. This company, Tech-Shield, has done well — continues to do well (mostly from all of the extra work me and my coworkers have done). for example, I gave three presentations last quarter — all around the same time –, and i know my boss at the time (not u of course) didnʼt appreciate them. The reports addressed key aspects of financial corporate liability because the quarterly profits of the company had declined. We discussed a loss of $200,000 and how to improve our performance. The presentation was candid, and we suggested a form of conservation to curb expenses with Tech-Shield by installing auto-sensors for the lights, encouraging ride-sharing programs, and introducing a day care to help address the expectation of longer hours.
These ideas worked like nobodyʼs business. In fact, we not only saved the two hundred thousand dollars lost on productivity (amazing, huh?), we cleared a profit of twenty thousand dollars. We are “da bomb.”
But wait, I have more ideas to address the problems (see numbered problems above). We should stop hiring relatives (like the current CEOʼs nephew) and I think Fridays should be casual days. Scheduling is always a challenge, but perhaps meetings that coordinate travel expectations and additional hours might benefit all and eliminate miscommunication. We could have flex weeks — something you may not have considered. Instead of fifty hour weeks, we could have employees alternate hours for each week. Some employees who had more time on a particular week could work more hours on that particular week and then work less on the following week. Everybody wins and nobody loses. We could add more employees — like a lot more employees. We could inform all of the employees about the daycare facilities and promote them. We already have these facilities, so there would be only a negligible affect on the budget. We could be more efficient by not training people to do new jobs.
I hope you will understand and appreciate all of these ideas. You should put them, or at least some of them, to good use. Iʼm looking forward to meeting you, and I know TechShield will be much stronger with you at the helm.
TTYL, Miguel Wilkens
Professional Email Sample
The above email can be revised as shown below:
From: Miguel Wilkens
To: Lauren Alvarez
Subject: Recommendations to be considered
Dear Ms. Lauren,
I am aware of my schedule to meet you soon, and I am looking forward to seeing my new supervisor. I am excited to start a new business relationship with someone who has a good reputation and a great deal of achievements. In fact, I’ve been thrilled to work with a supervisor who is engaging, quick in decision making and well informed like you.I understand that you would like to meet me on Monday, October 14. However, my schedule is really tight – I think you understand how tasks may get out of hand sometimes for an analyst like me. I have a lot of reports that need to be written and submitted on the same day, and as you understand, deadlines for analysts’ reports are strict. I hope that after submitting those reports I may probably be free for a few days. Therefore, I suggest that we meet on October 16 if that is convenient for you. If not, I will be glad to receive your opinion.
Even before we meet, I would like to highlight to you some of the challenges we are facing in our company and some recommendations that may be considered to improve state of affairs in our business. One of the challenges is that the company incurs a lot of costs to run its business. Employees of the company also have some concerns about certain issues with their employment contract with the company. Salaries are low due to the high costs incurred by the company and gender balance still needs to be improved. Equal promotion opportunities should also be available to everyone regardless of race, gender or age. The number of working hours has also been large, and as you know, this strains employees and reduces their performance. As a result, the company fails to meet its objectives. Employees also require an opportunity to develop their careers and improve their skills through training and development.
I hope that when we meet on 16th, or another day that you may consider appropriate, we will get an opportunity to discuss these issues in depth and find solutions for our problems so that the company becomes a good and profitable place to work. Tech-Shield is doing well, but we still need to cultivate the culture of involvement and democracy in operations and decision making. For instance, analysts like me should be given an opportunity to interact, discuss issues and produce reports in teams. The supervisors should then provide moral, material and information support to help analysts succeed in their reports.
I am looking forward to sharing more ideas and discussing real issues of importance to our company with you. Let me know your opinion about our meeting date. Thank you for your understanding.
Yours faithfully,
Miguel Wilkens