How to write emails that don't trigger rage and frustration
Just start with a hello, and say hope you’re well. There’s nothing gentle about gentle reminders. And the email never finds you well. Nothing annoys working professionals more than emails with vague flatteries, unnecessary niceties or even passive-aggressive follow ups. “As per my last email…” is a sure way for your email to be left on hold.
There are several ‘Dos and Don’t’s’ when writing a professional email. “Emails can be irritating. First of all, you can’t see the person. Often, you might not know the person. So, it’s already very hard to connect with someone you can’t see or don’t even know. So a lot depends on the tone of the email, and how they explain the context,”.
Remember, a working professional is already swamped with a million emails a day; a vague, generic, aggressive or meaningless one filled with false niceties will either elicit an angry, irritated response, or just be left unread. Or, possibly, sent to trash.
Emails can be irritating. A lot depends on the tone of the person in the email and how they explain the context. They need to be empathetic to connect with the other person. For example, they can start an email by saying I know you must be busy...
Skip the dears, dearests and dearie
“No one’s so dear to you, you aren’t writing to your grandmother,” “I’ve deleted emails from people who addressed me as dearest,”. She has been called dearie too, much to her shock. “I’ve had to remind people to not address me like that,”.
So, avoid the over-familiarity. No one’s your lovely, dear or honey at work. “I can’t stand over-familiarity from people that I do not know,”, an American freelancing writer. “I dislike it when strangers write emails addressing me as ‘lovely’. It’s like ‘Hey lovely, thought I will check in…’ and the email is followed by some irrelevant announcement,” Be professional, friendly, but without going overboard.
Be specific in your subject line
For all you know, your recipient might be subjected to a flood of emails a day. They don’t have time to read each email. They’ll probably just look at the subject and see if it’s worth their time. If they don’t find it so, it usually remains unread or goes to trash. So keep the subject line short, Get to the point. Many people won’t have the patience to read an email with a blank subject or something vague or generic. “I wouldn’t read an email with the subject ‘just checking in’ or ‘greetings’. So, keep your subject short; let it capture the essence of your email, like a headline," Otherwise, you and your email are ignored.
The email never finds you well
Yes, we know the emails that begin with this line: ‘Hope this email finds you well.’ “It does not sound sincere. The first thing that comes to mind when reading it is, ‘Okay, what do you want?” which focuses on leadership content strategies. “It sounds rather clichéd, as if you really don’t care what’s happening with them, but you’re just determined to get your work done,” Just say hello, and hope you're well.
Skip the slang
Don’t wander and confuse the reader. “You don’t have to begin with a chatty, over-friendly conversation before getting into the conversation, especially if you have emailed them several times a day,” “Skip the slang, excessive punctuation and emoticons,”
A little empathy doesn’t hurt
Emails can be a frustrating form of communication for various reasons, one being that you can’t see the person. “You need to show a little empathy in your emails, so that they can at least have a sense of your tone and mood,” If you know they’re busy, you can use words like ‘I know you must be busy’… and give them clear context, of what you need. Keep it short, simple and basic, and that’s the best way to not annoy someone.
In this form of written communication, you need to establish some form of trust with the other person, he says.
“Always think, how would I feel when reading this,”
There’s no point following up on a previous email, when the other person doesn’t remember what you’re following up on.
Explain your request again, so that the person doesn’t have to sift through a long email thread and see what you’re referring to. “If that person didn’t respond to your email the first time, resending the same message is probably not going to get better results the second time.”
Avoid being pushy and passive-aggressive: No gentle reminders
Don’t mark your emails with ‘URGENT’ (in upper case mind you), when you know, it isn’t urgent. Moreover, don’t do it just in the hope that you are capturing someone’s attention. “I’ve received emails from people saying, ‘Hey, I haven’t heard from you for a week, so I guess you’re not interested. Well, in case you are, let me know’,” “Such emails just trigger you into a rage, or you just delete them and never respond,”
Also, avoid ‘gentle’ reminders. There’s no such thing as a gentle reminder. “Everyone knows that a reminder is a call to action. Adding gentle to it, just sounds more passive-aggressive and leaves the other person aggravated,”“In terms of tone of voice, always be warm and approachable – not cold, impersonal, and definitely not patronising or passive-aggressive,”.
Think before you ‘cc’
“The point of cc’ing someone is that they’re kept in the loop. That person already has context. If they don’t, then don’t cc them. It’s simple. There’s no prize for the number of people you can stuff into an email. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you like being copied in an email that’s completely out of the blue? Exactly,”.
Don’t copy others on an email when there’s no need
Moreover, don’t email several people in the hope that they will forward it to the person who is supposed to receive the email. This is considering the scenario that the person hasn’t responded. In all probability, they will email the same person and filled their inbox with the same email. Nothing annoys a person more.
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Why does New Zealand take such a long summer holiday break?
Most Kiwis are counting down the days until their summer holiday - whether they're heading off camping, heading to the bach or just taking a few lazy days at the beach.
But has it always been this way?
Richard Wolfe is a cultural historian and the author of more than 40 books about Aotearoa.
"Leaving town over Xmas and January has become a key part of the local cultural identity," Wolfe said.
The New Zealand History website, operated by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, calls the summer lull an "end-of-year prize for being a New Zealander".
However, not everyone is 100 percent on board with our somewhat leisurely summer pause.
A post on LinkedIn by business adviser Toss Grumley went viral in the past week, as Grumley wrote that he was "baffled every year by New Zealand's intense Christmas shut down".
"In what world as an economy and country are we operating in an environment where no business discussion can happen for a period of ten weeks," he asked. His question sparked debates on news and social media sites.
On NewsTalk ZB on Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had spent much of his career working overseas where the long holiday break wasn't the same.
"In the US you maybe get two weeks' annual leave holiday and Christmas is a couple of days off and you're back at it again.
"I've always been used to going back to work on the 3rd or 4th of January," he said.
Auckland Business Chamber head Simon Bridges told Stuff : "There is a view that New Zealand just shuts down not just for Christmas and New Year, but in many cases, all the way through to March."
How did our long summer break become such a Kiwi institution, anyway?
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Wolfe said one of the big factors behind our long summer break is, well, the summer weather. Our Australian cousins benefit from that, too.
"I suggest that what's behind the 'summer break' is, fairly obviously, the local (antipodean) climate," he said.
Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere is in the middle of winter which isn't quite as conducive to long camping holidays and days at the beach.
And despite the image of an entire country putting on the brakes, not everyone in New Zealand actually takes off the entire summer until March.
"We want to shop, go to the movies or watch TV, and we expect everything to be available, so hospitals, power suppliers, the police and many other essential services still run 24/7," NZ History noted. "And if we live on a farm, then summer means more work, not holidays."
We also roll Christmas and New Year together with our "summer holiday," which places like America and Europe tend to do in August. There are also only a couple of public holidays between June and Christmas like Matariki and Labour Day.
One commenter wrote on Grumley's LinkedIn post that "people are exhausted by the end of the year" here in New Zealand, "so we shut down for a solid month".
Changing laws, changing transport
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Holidays as we think of them now are a fairly modern invention.
According to Te Ara the online encyclopedia of New Zealand, originally the two statutory holidays for Christmas and New Year's at the height of summer "provided a compelling reason" to take a break.
As far back as the 1860s even gold miners would take a break then, as Coromandel goldfields granted two weeks' special protections over claims.
The long holiday began to evolve over the 20th century thanks to tightening labour laws and the growth of wider travel with the introduction of the automobile and trains.
"Another important factor may have been the introduction of the Annual Holidays Act in 1944, making a two-week paid holiday a legal entitlement for full-time employers," Wolfe said.
Compared to some countries, Kiwis get a generous amount of paid leave time.
The latest version of the Holidays Act from 2003 entitles employees to at least four weeks of paid annual leave after 12 months of continuous work.
That's quite a contrast to, say, America, where there is no legally mandated paid holiday time.
New Zealand's geography and compact size meant the beach was the most likely place for labourers and their families to go.
"Because no part of the country is more than 120 km from the nearest coastline, the beach and associated baches became popular destinations," Wolfe said.
"I would suggest that the 'summer break' was established in the period of post-war prosperity in the 1950s, with the continuing growth in the number of privately owned cars, thereby increasing personal and family mobility."
But does a break really impact our economy?
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In his opinion piece, Grumley claimed the long holiday affects New Zealand's productivity.
Not everyone agrees.
"Work less, live more," one commenter wrote in response to his post.
Fleur Fitzsimons, national secretary of the union Public Service Association, said holidays are important to workers.
"New Zealand has a culture of long hours, workers need more holidays to recharge, reconnect with their families and get ready for the working year ahead."
The government has announced changes to the Holidays Act, which would see both annual and sick leave accumulate based on hours worked. Unions and opposition parties have said they fear that could trample workers' rights and entitlements.
Fitzsimons said the government has been taking rights away from workers by cancelling pay equity and introducing changes to the Employment Relations Act, calling it "out of touch" with the needs of working New Zealanders.
"If the government is serious about improving productivity, cutting holidays is the wrong approach.
"We have a mental health crisis in New Zealand - the last thing we should be doing is talking about fewer holidays."
Wolfe said that the current summer break may help workers recharge their energy for the year ahead.
"A shorter break might in fact have the opposite effect - creating disgruntlement among workers who feel they're being short-changed," Wolfe said.
"And as climate change kicks in and the world gets warmer, perhaps the summer break will become vital for maintaining the health and welfare of New Zealanders."
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Poll: Are our Kiwi summer holidays helping us recharge, or holding the economy back? ☀️🥝
There’s growing debate about whether New Zealand’s extended Christmas break (and the slowdown that comes with it) affects productivity.
Tracy Watkins has weighed in ... now it’s your turn. What’s your take? 🤔
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72.8% We work hard, we deserve a break!
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17.2% Hmm, maybe?
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10% Yes!
Some Choice News!
Many New Zealand gardens aren’t seeing as many monarch butterflies fluttering around their swan plants and flower beds these days — the hungry Asian paper wasp has been taking its toll.
Thanks to people like Alan Baldick, who’s made it his mission to protect the monarch, his neighbours still get to enjoy these beautiful butterflies in their own backyards.
Thinking about planting something to invite more butterflies, bees, and birds into your garden?
Thanks for your mahi, Alan! We hope this brings a smile!
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