GISTnet Reliable e-Communication

Reliable e-Communication

Non-subscriber price: $30.00, Subscriber price: $25.00

An estimated 72 million employees are now using e-mail and will send 2.8 billion messages today—four trillion messages this year. Some experts predict that instant messaging (IM) will soon overtake e-mail as the primary form of e-communication. At last count there were almost 100 million web logs ("blogs"), many of which are business-related

New modes of e-communication seem to spring to life every few months – YouTube and similar "user-generated content" sites, MySpace and other social-networking sites, Second Life and similar "massive multiplayer universes", chatrooms, wikis, podcasts, RSS, mashups—the list goes on and on. Used appropriately, each of these can be a useful tool in today’s workplace.

But with all the potentially positive uses of e-communication come potential abuses, as well. For example, many employees spend a significant amount of the workday using their computers for non-work-related activities. In addition, improper e-communication activities can lead to issues of workplace discrimination and harassment, copyright infringement, insider trading, antitrust violations, the loss of company trade secrets, and other legal problems for the company. It can also lead to discipline—and possibly termination of the employees involved.

Program Summary

This training program is intended to make employees more aware of the ways they use company e-mail, Internet access and other modes of e-communication. It includes interactive exercises and quizzes and concludes with an online game that employees must finish to earn a Certificate of Completion.

The topics covered in the program include:

The ever-evolving modes of e-communication
Potential abuses of e-communication capabilities, such as –
- Drains on employee productivity
- Potential legal liability
Reasons to use e-communication more judiciously and prudently, such as –
- Lack of privacy for personal communications
- Lack of efficacy due to (i) growing amount of spam, (ii) reader overload, and (iii) impersonal nature of medium
- Potential for being victimized by viruses, phishing schemes, etc.
Broad application of careful e-communication principles to (i) all employees and contractors (ii) with access to any of the company’s e communication systems

Reliable e-Communication

Program Summary

(R)eliable Communication