Module 2a — Office
Correspondence
and Records
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Emails
Email has become the communication life-blood of organizations. It has displaced traditional communication systems including postal services, couriers, faxes, and to a lesser extent, telephones and has become an integral part of daily operations. While most of us will acknowledge the facility that email has created for sending messages, we can also see how email has a way of creating its own work-related problems.
The ILO has specific guidelines on the use and protocol related to email. According to Circular No. 41 Series 9, email can be classified into three types:
- official communications: like minutes, memoranda, facsimiles or letters on ILO paper, they refer to written communications made in an official capacity.
- informal communications: they may be considered as having the same status as a telephone conversation, routing slips(2) or notes which are of an informal nature and do not have the status of an official communication; they are used as a working tool in routine office activities and do not formally commit the ILO or the unit concerned.
- personal communications: they are understood to be messages unrelated to the performance of official duties; they are permitted as a convenience to staff, subject to certain conditions.
Please refer to this circular or any updates for detailed guidelines on the appropriate use of email as a form of communication at the ILO. This part of the module is intended to support these guidelines but at the same time focuses more broadly on acquiring good writing skills that will result in effective and purpose-driven messages.