In effect from September 1st 2023.
Sending of emails
Emails from the department management, secretaries, etc. should, as far as possible, only be sent out during working hours i.e., between 8-17. This is to avoid employees feeling obliged to take care of or respond to email enquiries outside working hours.
Sending of emails etc. outside working hours
Internal messages (emails etc.) between employees in research groups, educational teams, etc. may be sent outside working hours, but the recipient is not expected to read/reply until the next day, unless otherwise agreed. We recommend that each research group agrees on one common platform to communicate on e.g., AU mail or Teams.
Subject field
Make sure that the Subject field describes the content of the email as precisely as possible. In addition, ensure that the most important topic is at the top of the email, and that the expected response or action of the recipient is obvious.
Whom
Always consider who the relevant recipient of the email is. The person(s) in the “To field” must take an active approach to the email. Persons in the "CC field" are merely provided with the information and cannot be expected to take an active approach to the email. Later in the mail correspondence, if you add more recipients to the CC field make sure that the language is adjusted (e.g. by being translated from Danish to English) in such a way that the content of the email can be understood by everyone.
When
It is expected that employees at the Department of Biomedicine check their inbox every day (holiday, absence and public holidays excepted) within normal working hours, but they are not expected to answer emails on the same day or outside working hours. If an answer is urgent, in the Subject field “urgent” can be added or "High priority" can be specified. It is expected that you always consider carefully whether the use of "High priority" is necessary.
Autoreply
Use your autoreply in connection with holiday or long-term absence to make the sender aware that your response may arrive later than expected.
Wanted items
Emails wanting equipment, reagents, parcels, etc. sent to the entire department, are to be sent BCC (the mailing list is inserted in the BCC field). This way “reply to all” is avoided, and only the sender will receive a response, if any.
The good tone
Remember to keep the tone polite when you write a message. A "tough" tone may seem angrier in writing than when you are face to face.