WIBU to pull this person up on their grammar at work?

[stillcusacking]

Would you in this situation?

I line manage someone who has sent out an email with a grammatical error in it - quite a basic one. I don't want to be too revealing but, grammar is directly related to our line of work, so to publically make an error in relation to it is more than a little embarrassing - for her, and by extension me as her manager.

The email itself is great in terms of the ideas in it, but she has sent it in response to something someone else sent, almost criticising what they have suggested, or adding to it, so the fact that her email contains a grammatical error is even more disappointing than it would be anyway, as it will open her up to comments along the lines of, 'You had time to get involved in this but not to check your own work...' etc etc.

Would you raise it with her at all? I kind of need to know she knows it's wrong (I bloody hope she does...), but I also don't want to look petty or like I'm putting her down when she 'puts herself out there'.

Advice would be great.

You are her line manager, so yes, you should take action.

Go for it. Incidentally, ““publically” is a really ugly way of writing the word “publicly”.

Is she a teacher?
Maybe just say, 'I think you did a typo here, next time throw it my way and I'll proof read for you.'

Of course.

As a manager, you need to ensure she presents her ideas in the best light. It's also good for you to be seen to manage competent people.

Some might argue that grammar doesn't matter (I'm not one of them), but as long as some people think it's important, you need to help her to improve.

I would point it out as you say it's related to your line of work. Explain it to her as you did here, great ideas in the email but the error detracts from it. You can do it in a way that doesn't put her down.

Yes. I used to sell educational products. I was told to be very careful with my spelling and grammar.

In my current job, my manager has terrible grammar and writes a lot of business related jargon. I think it gives a bad impression, too, if your staff can spell better than you.

You probably should.

Also, try improving your own. Is your use of commas arbitrary? There's never any need to use two 'etc's.

Rather than pointing blame, look to put in a process that ensures it doesn’t happen again. For example, any emails being sent to customers/external could be proof read before being sent.

Doesn't sound like you have enough work on

It depends on your line of work, what the error was, and whether the email was sent externally.

I'm generally more forgiving of shitty internal emails, but if one of the people I line managed sent out a poorly written email externally, we might be having words. Especially if I thought it was an error they were likely to repeat. The tone/style of an email can completely change the message and in my line of work, it's important to convey yourself in an appropriate way. When I review emails, I don't just review the technical content, I strip out spelling mistakes and bad grammar.

When I point out little errors to the people I line manage, I often lead by explaining it's fairly trivial, but because they keep doing it, I'm going to explain why that's wrong because clearly no one else has bothered to tell them and it's easily fixable when you know. It tends to go down quite well, but I like to think I've fostered a relationship where they respect my seniority and know when I point things out, it's to help them be the best versions of themselves rather than to be shitty for the sake of it.

Yes of course

Manage your colleague properly then.
Please tell me you didn't get out a 'red pen' metaphorically of course.
You sound awful.

I am a copywriter and when I'm communicating with agents...people who run big digital marketing agencies, our emails and messages are LITTERED with errors.

Because we're busy and can't be bothered.

However, if one of us sent a message to a client which included misspelled words or poor grammar, we'd be pulled up about it.

If the email went to paying clients, then yes...say something. If it was internal...why bother?

I love that there are posters making a passive-aggressive point about how pointing out grammatical errors is petty, by, um, pointing out grammatical errors

I do this and have had emails I have written that contain a mistake pointed out. It's the only way to learn.

Why does it make a difference if the email is internal? If the person doesn't know the grammar point she might make the same mistake next time in an external email.

If it's something that would be put down to autocorrect you can always point that she needs to double check that hasn't happened.

I would say something but not in a way that makes a big deal out of it. Like, next time you're talking to her about something else, you could just mention that it's very important to take the time to double check the spelling and grammar of all communications, since that's a relevant concern for your work. Explain what she should do if there's something she's not sure about, etc.

Interesting.... I'm a copywriter and a pedant. I hate seeing grammatical errors but I ignore them if they're in internal emails.

I work in a truly international company, ie my immediate team members are spread across several European countries and everyone always has to speak and write English on team calls. I would never dream of correcting a non-English team member and in any case, their grammar is generally better than many native English speakers. But when anyone is writing copy for customers then of course I will correct /amend.

The very worst 'cringe' moment I came across was when a 40+ native English colleague wrote in an internal mail (not to me) that she 'was ofay' with the reasons behind a particular action.... Forgivable at aged 20 but when you're supposed to be a professional marketing communications expert that's just embarrassing. I don't think our line manager said anything - but I think he should have done.

There's never any need to use two 'etc's.

But people routinely do, even though there's no strict need to, per se.

What a bizarre thing to pick up on, just to try to get a dig in.

Just pull her to one side and mention it, but I'd probably focus more on the tone. I've recently taken on a grad in my business (who is incredible at 95% of the job) but business email etiquette is just not something they've ever experienced before. After about a week I noticed that people had been dropped out of CC, and that some simple questions had been asked that we already had the answer to. We had a quick chat about it and things improved immediately.