Stop Treating Employees Like Email Lists

I like shoes. Like, really like them. And I buy more than my fair share of them, especially online. There’s just something about that package showing up and waiting until cocktail hour to unbox them. Mmm…delightful.

But what I don’t like is for these shoe companies to automatically assume we’re in a lifelong relationship. Just because I bought your shoes online and you had to capture my email address as part of that transaction doesn’t mean I am giving you forever permission to spam me like five times a day. You don’t know me like that!?!

Which is how I think employees feel at work. Just because I started working here and you have my email address doesn’t mean I am giving you forever permission to spam me like five times a day. It’s disruptive, distracting, presumptuous and puts negative pressure on a delicate relationship that should be nurtured over time and never feel immediately demanding.

Now, I know full well that most companies are not going to move to a full subscription model, where employees get to pick and choose what they want to receive or not. Leaders would be shocked at how little most employees care about their seemingly “important” stuff. And, sure, there are some things they absolutely have to receive, legal or otherwise, whether they want them or not.

But surely there’s a middle ground between all or nothing, right? Maybe that’s to commit to only sending Big C comms within the first and last 30 mins of the workday. That way, we can check the box for all those leaders who think their stuff is so damn important while also protecting both the sanctity of work time and the delicate employee relationship we’re trying to nurture.

I may really like shoes. But never enough to put up with being hassled to death about them all day long.

Written by Jason Anthoine, SVP, Managing Director of Arketi Inside
Jason Anthoine is Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Arketi Inside, Arketi Group’s internal communications offering dedicated to workforce communications and change management. Anthoine helps organizations engage and inspire employees to build thriving cultures. He has worked with hundreds of companies to transform workforce communications, strengthen the employee-employer relationship, and create more resilient organizations.