Directions for e-mail at CBH

Three important tips

1. Think about how to best communicate the task at hand. Feel free to contact a colleague by phone or go to the person and talk. In times of telework, Slack can be a good channel for simple questions that we otherwise solve when we meet face to face.
   Read more about KTH Slack - The Digital Workplace
2. Only send e-mails to the people who are affected or who need the e-mail.
3. Remember to be polite in your e-mails. Our written language can be experienced as blunter than when we speak to our colleagues face to face. This is especially important in times when we work remotely.

Basics

• All employees at CBH are expected to read and answer their e-mails regularly (during working hours). If you receive a lot of e-mails, it may be wise to set up routines for how and when to read and answer them. You can decide on some fixed times during the day when you go through your inbox, and turn off the notifications so that you can work undisturbed.
• Only use your KTH address for job e-mails. Have a private e-mail address for private e-mails. KTH is subject to the principle of public access to information, which means that the public and the media have the right to transparency in our activities. Read more about working for a governmental employer .
• Keep in mind that correspondence to and from KTH may need to be recorded.

Keep the following in mind when sending e-mails:

• Consider a face-to-face meeting or a phone call instead of an e-mail when there is a risk of misunderstandings or the issue is sensitive.
• Make the topic of the e-mail clear and write what action you expect from the recipient (eg for information, need answers, decisions).
• Do not reply to an old e-mail when you have a new case.
• Use CC with restraint. Recipients receive e-mails as a copy for information only, and are not expected to act on the content.
• If the matter is very urgent, consider calling or speaking to the person face to face instead. Only use high priority e-mails in urgent matters that requires a quick response or action.
• Be careful when using "answer all". Consider whether it is necessary/practical/desirable, or whether answering only the sender is enough.
• If you forward an e-mail - look through the entire e-mail thread before sending.

Mass mailing and function addresses

Think about who the intended target group is, and who needs to read the e-mail. All recipients will not find the information relevant or interesting. Is the content of a possible attached document really of interest to the reader or can the information be conveyed in a faster and easier way in the e-mail itself? Only send mass mailings if there are no other communication options. Maybe the information can be conveyed through CBH News instead? You are welcome to contact the communication unit  if you need advice.

• Use function e-mail addresses like "cbh-all" sparingly. If the information is not relevant for the whole school, then consider alternative mailing lists with a smaller reach. On the e-mail lists page , there are many different function e-mail addresses for CBH's organization.
• Use Bcc (blind carbon copy). When you enter the recipient's address in the bcc field, the individual recipients cannot see which other e-mail addresses the letter has been sent to. In addition, we avoid people answering all recipients in returning e-mails. Show, hide, and view the Bcc (blind carbon copy) field in Outlook .
• Be clear about who the intended recipient of the e-mail is - by writing "Hello teacher", for example. This way, we avoid the recipient forwarding the e-mail to people who have already received it.
• Purpose and target group must be clearly stated in the e-mail.
• Remember to double-check so that everyone who really needs to receive the e-mail is on the mailing list. Some function addresses may be missing persons. If the person is very important to include, feel free to add the person's e-mail address separately to the recipient list as well.

E-mail Signature

• Always use KTH's e-mail signature for external communication. In addition to the reinforced KTH identity, the recipient also receives contact information with address and telephone number, which makes it easier to get in touch.
• For internal communication, it is recommended that you use the signature when communicating with people for the first time.

How to set up an e-mail signature

Automatic replies

E-mails concerning KTH's operations must always be handled in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, even in the event of absence. All employees therefore have a responsibility to handle their e-mail in case of absence in one of the following ways:

1. Activate the e-mail program's absence manager. Fill in how long you will be absent, contact information for colleagues and/or the school registrar and a reference to the relevant function mailbox.
2. Enable automatic forwarding to a colleague or school registrar.
3. Read your e-mails during your absence.

Auto-reply for your individual mail box should generally not be used just because you do not have the time to reply, only in case of absence. At extremely high workloads, you can set an auto-reply ("It may take a little longer to get an answer right now") if your immediate supervisor approves.

How to set up an automatic reply

Forwarding

In order to guarantee compliance with KTH's regulatory requirements, automatic forwarding to external e-mail systems (eg Google, Hotmail, etc.) is not permitted. One reason for this is to be able to ensure that the communication that is of a public nature is not lost. It must be possible to track, follow up and possibly be reconsidered at a later stage. An example is communication between teacher and student.

More information

KTH's directions for e-mail 

Malicious e-mail