Email etiquette at work

[damekindness]

When emailing at work to the in-house team I tend to start with Hello {first name} because it sounds open and friendly .

Rarely a Dear {first name} if it's something formal like performance management type things or I'm being passive aggressive

To external people its a Dear until I get to know them and then it seems too formal

The one thing that does set my teeth on edge is when people begin their emails with just the persons first name as in...

Doris,

Further to our meeting this morning,,,

AIBU to think that appears brusque or rude?

I quite often don't put anything as an opener, what's the point really?

It only caused offence once to my knowledge, and that was a more a mix up over the whole email, not just the lack of a salutation

Life's too short to get bogged down with this sort of stuff

It’s not rude, it’s just direct and depends on the individual’s style of correspondence. It’s perfectly normal to address someone by name when speaking to them rather than starting every interaction with hi or hello so it’s the same in email.

I'm fine with just 'Doris'. I don't think it's rude or brusque at all. If I wished to be in any way brusque, I would make that abundantly clear

First name only is entirely neutral and not rude or brusque.

'Hi' to someone I don't know sounds silly and 'Dear' is too formal.

What really irks me is the use of 'Best Regards' and even worst, shortened to 'Best'. It's absolutely awful.

I start internal emails and those for customers I know well with hi, any others I use hello. I sign my emails with kind regards or just thanks depending on the context but I shorten it to regards if I'm pissed off.

While we're on the subject - what's the difference between kind regards and best regards? Which one should I use in professional settings? English is my mother tongue but having lived all my life abroad I have no internal gut feeling about these things.

I normally use Hi Doris and sign off with Kind Regards. However I quite like good morning approach, will use that on my next email. I don’t like just the name, seems too abrupt.

What do people think of signing off an email with “Best” then your name? I am seeing that more and more.

I work in an international company so email people all over the world regularly. It's amazing seeing the different approaches to email tone (English definitely the most apologetic! I.e. "Sorry to disturb, could you please just look at x when you have time" etc) All my colleagues throw smileys around regularly and winky faces! A mix of regards/kind regards/KR. Nearly every one starts with 'Hi'. I go with 'Hi name' and sign off 'Kind Regards' - works for everyone in all countries ime.

I hate it too. What's wrong with "Hi"?

My friend drew a comic about someone putting "KR" at the end of an email. Her thoughts were "why don't you just spit in my face?" when she saw it

My boss used to write like this, and when I was promoted to her level I mentioned I always thought this was a bit abrupt/felt I was being told off a bit. She said she didn’t mean it that way at all, and that she saw it as being more colloquial!

Bullsh*t IMO. It’s a management tool.

I usually say "good morning name" or "good afternoon name" to clients and customers.

people I am closer with ie colleagues get a hi or hello

I only begin with just a name if I am annoyed and I want them to know it.

similarly everyone gets kind regards, until they annoy me and they just get regards!

I HATE "br" "rgds" anything like that, just type it properly ffs.

there are some people who just do

Joan,
I need xyz by whenever
Jeremy.

and yet they're actually really nice and approachable in real life, but everyone who doesn't deal with them face to face thinks theyre really rude.

Completely agree! It’s just rude in the UK at least.

I do have some US colleagues who do it though, so I wonder if there’s a cultural difference? Or maybe they’re all rude!

I think it depends on the relationship you have with the person with whom you're communicating. I agree that it sounds very rude when people just put your name, but then again, maybe people are seeing it like a written equivalent of a spoken message - if you had to go to see somebody in a different department (assuming an office scenario), you would probably go over to their desk and say "Hi Rebecca, I was wondering if you could help me with this, please," However, if it's somebody you work alongside all the time, you definitely wouldn't do that - it'd just be "Rebecca? Could you give me a hand, please?" I also don't like 'Dear' once you've established a working relationship with people, it just sounds cold and distant.

As PP have said, if you have a close relationship with somebody, you might just use email for passing on messages and save face-to-face for friendly pleasantries. My boss is also a very close friend, and we just write the bare minimum - "Have you finished the spreadsheet?"; "Done" - and we know that no brusqueness is intended.

What I find the most awkward of all is when you have a long email trail and people insist on a formal opening salutation, closing greeting and signing off at every stage. When you've already exchanged 8 messages back and forth in one 'conversation', it just seems utterly bizarre to have "Dear Vicky, thanks, kind regards, Peter" followed by "Dear Peter, you're very welcome, kind regards, Vicky."

If I'm emailing one person who I've emailed before, I would say,
Doris:
Good afternoon.
(Email body)
Thank you.
(Signature)

Or, if I've never emailed her before, I'd address it to "Ms. Smith," or whatever.

KR is not an abbreviation I've ever seen before, I wouldn't have any idea what it meant.

I used to work with someone who signed off her emails with "Kind regards". Let's just say the sentiment didn't match the rude bossy tone of the email. Signing Kind regards when there isn't any kindness in the email is not good.

I always use Hello Bob, and sign off Thanks, Janet

My pet peeve is when people sign "Thanks in advance". Basically trying to give you no option to say no.

In my line of work it is quite normal for emails to just start with name. 'Doris' etc. Also to be quite direct. I think you may be reading too much into this. This article is interesting on male/female email tone and pleasantries (note it doesn't say they are always wrong to use www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/8xyb5v/how-to-write-professional-work-email-women).

KR? Never seen that!

I work in an environment where nobody gets formal - Hi Janet... and no sign off at all. They know who I am from the top of the email.

In my company I find the higher up the food chain you go, the briefer the email will get. Some will cut out the formalities of Hello/Hi/Dear and just put your name. Some will reply with a short sentence and not even put your name or their own. I used to think it was rude but now I realise they're just busy people and want to get straight to the point without any unnecessary fluff on the email.

The ones that annoy me most are those who start off with "Hi X, I hope you are well" or "I hope you are doing good." Worse still, "Happy Friday!"

I was just about to write and say that the thing that really annoys me is "Best" at the end of an email, but I can see it's not just me. What does that even mean? It's at best lazy, and quite frankly it's rude.

I don't see it as rude at all, emails are meant to be short ans to the point. I think Dear sounds too much like a letter or so e thing to a family member or friend, and wouldn't normally use it it in a work email, hi and hello can be OK but sometimes sound too falslely jolly.
If you look on emails the same as an old fashioned written memo that would just have the TO, CC and FROM on it no opening salutation like Dear, Hi, etc. The email clearly shows who it is to and from so I don't think anything is necesarry really and tbh i had so many work emails I didn't even notice what the greeting on them was.

On a related topic, what do people think about the way people ask for a specific person when going through a switchboard (managed by a person, not automated)?

1. "Hi, could I speak to Tracey Barnes, please."
2. "Could I speak to Tracey Barnes, please."
3. "Tracey Barnes, please."
4. "Tracey Barnes."

I've heard all four variations.
Personally, it would never occur to me not to use 1.
2 seems odd without a greeting to acknowledge that you're actually speaking to a person.
3 is quite abrupt.
4 is horrible and dehumanising, like you're talking to a robot.

I work with people overseas and quite often get:

Dearest Watching
Kindly attend to xyz at your earliest convenience.
My deepest appreciation,
Workmate

It took some getting used to. I'm almost there now. Although I do wonder if they find my responses terse .

Standard across the board for years everywhere I have worked is:

Hi Name,

Blah