Email Policy Training

What the training consists of

1. 

   1. Email policies

   1:18

   An email policy sets out how employees handle email and ideally fits the risks of each department. The first lesson explains why such a policy matters, with strict guidelines for employee data in HR and guidelines for sharing client contracts in sales as examples.

2. 

   2. Classification of emails

   1:48

   The second lesson shows how to label emails by how sensitive they are (restricted, confidential, internal use only or public), even in a company with no formal labelling system, and how a label helps manage how long an email is kept.

3. 

   3. Email templates and work email

   2:05

   The last lesson tackles everyday errors with templates for repeated emails, keeping work and personal email apart, and reporting a mistake when it happens.

Why it matters

An email policy is designed to protect the organisation against a range of risks, from phishing to emails sent to the wrong person, both common causes of data breaches. It also helps the organisation handle personal data in line with regulations such as the GDPR.

What your colleagues learn

• The policy protects information through everyday habits. When each person handles email the way it sets out, ordinary work supports the organisation’s aim of protecting information.
• A label prompts the right precautions. Marking an email as confidential can remind the sender to check the recipient’s address and switch on encryption before sending.
• Templates reduce mistakes in repeated emails. They make sure the right information and privacy notices go out, and that no more information is shared than needed.
• Mixing work and personal email adds risk in both directions. A work address used for online accounts attracts more phishing, and personal email opened on a work computer can bring malware onto it.
• Even a small mistake is worth reporting. A minor error can lead to a data breach, and reporting it through the organisation’s own procedure lets the organisation limit the damage and learn from it.