Name and Shame Emails

Don’t you hate it when you get an email stating that you haven’t followed a process correctly, but then everyone else that has also made the same mistake is listed in the “To” field of the email. So it’s basically “naming and shaming” everyone.

One particularly patronising work email I have received recently is the one where you haven’t submitted your timesheet. There’s massive screenshots of the website with red circles and arrows pointing at each button you need to click in order to submit it.

It’s so dumb because it only makes sense if you have NEVER submitted a timesheet: If you have submitted several weeks worth, then missed 1 week, why do you need step-by-step instructions of which buttons to click? You know what to do, all the email needs to say is that you have missed a week, and it should state the date that you missed.

However, out of the 3 times I have received such a patronising email, there was actually only 1 time where it was actually accurate. The other 2 occasions, I checked the timesheet and everything was showing as submitted. I can only assume what they did was prepare the email a few days prior to sending it. Then in the meantime, I had gone and filled it in. Either that, or maybe it was a bug in the software.

If you are basically going to criticise someone, at least you need to make sure it is accurate. Then it’s advisable not to make it known to everyone by sending mass mails.

On a related note, I received the following email today:

As you may be aware, all colleagues are required to complete the Data Security training annually. 
Our reports show that your training is still outstanding. 
The training needs to be completed by Friday 30 April at the very latest. A status report will be sent to the Directors on Wednesday 28 April.

I don’t recall seeing any previous email about it. Yes, it is supposed to be an annual thing, but surely I’m not supposed to create my own reminder – where is the autogenerated reminder? When I went to do the training, it was actually 1 year and 3 months since I did it last. So in my opinion, that’s their mistake but now I am receiving an email that tries to make me feel like it’s my fault. With only 8 working days to complete it, surely it’s possible there are some colleagues on annual leave during this time, in which case I’d imagine they will then have the Directors on their back.

Ironically, part of the training involved General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). One of the examples of a failure was about sending emails with all the recipients in the “To” or “CC” field, rather than the “BCC”. It’s probably really relevant when sending external emails, rather than the internal email I received about the timesheet. Still, it made me smile, and I think the general principle applies that you shouldn’t receive unnecessary information about people.