Question about opening post addressed to employees
Discussion
If it is business related correspondence delivered to the business address then, as far as I am concerned, the employee does not have the right to conceal the contents of such correspondence from his employers or his superiors. If it is not business related correspondence then it shouldn't be delivered to the business address, why should other employees be paid to handle his private correspondence?
A slightly pointed, and yet highly non-offensive way of dealing with it woul dbe to have all such post forwarded to his personal and private residence (as happens with all my post to the office, as I'm never there).
If its not annoying you, then simply pop a white label over the address, with redirect in it, and AFAIK, it goes free.
If, after a coupe of weeks/months/one supply of patience, later its still happening, might I suggest a larger brown envelope addressed to his residence, with no postage on it, and perhaps a cunning selection of the larger stationery catalogues...
If its not annoying you, then simply pop a white label over the address, with redirect in it, and AFAIK, it goes free.
If, after a coupe of weeks/months/one supply of patience, later its still happening, might I suggest a larger brown envelope addressed to his residence, with no postage on it, and perhaps a cunning selection of the larger stationery catalogues...
TSS said:
Thanks for the replies guys. Unfortunately it’s not practical to redirect it to his home address, as the post for him is documentation we usually need ASAP and it will cause major hassle if we don’t get it quickly or it gets lost somewhere.
At which point you bollock him, and if it happens again, you go the Eric_Mc route. It obviously isnt funny to you, so why let him take the piss? TSS said:
But can anybody conclusively tell me the legal position with regard to opening business post addressed to employees with/without it being marked Strictly Private & Confidential?
What do your terms and conditions and Acceptable Use policies say? If they dont mention it, then a swift memorandum to everyone(pointing no fingers) making it clear that if it comes in through your front door, it belongs to the business, and will be opened and sorted by a designated person, and bingo, thats what your rules are. To be honest, regardless of why you employed him, this smacks of seeking to undermine you, the business, while being paid by you, and needs stamping on.
TSS said:
One of our employees has started asking people to post (business related) letters to himself marked Strictly Private & Confidential, when there is no need for it to be marked as such as it’s not private or confidential within the company.
I think that is the root of the problem. It's prefectly right and proper for people to receive personal and confidential letters at work that are related to their employment. They shouldn't use it for ordinary personal mail unrelated to the employment. Surely it is a matter of company policy whether general business mail should be marked personal and confidential. By marking the mail private and confidential they are restricting the operation of the company because nobody else can deal with that mail. If somebody is doing this when it is not company policy that they should, then they should be told not to. If they choose to keep doing it, surely that's a disciplinary matter. I wouldn't have anyone open private and confidential mail addressed to somebody else under any circumstances.
GreenV8S said:
I wouldn't have anyone open private and confidential mail addressed to somebody else under any circumstances.
I would. If it comes into my Company I want to know about it. If the employee wants to keep secrets then they can keep them outside of my premises and my business.
If anything comes to the office for me, it's opened by the PA who simply checks the contents, as I spend most of my week out of the office. Mundane things are dealt with by her, more urgent items are reported to me by phone.
For those who are office based, anything marked Private or Confidential is left unopened and placed on their respective desks.
Anything that looks like it contains a cheque gets opened and recorded. Anything that looks like it contains cash goes into the pub fund.
For those who are office based, anything marked Private or Confidential is left unopened and placed on their respective desks.
Anything that looks like it contains a cheque gets opened and recorded. Anything that looks like it contains cash goes into the pub fund.
david_s said:
I would. If it comes into my Company I want to know about it. If the employee wants to keep secrets then they can keep them outside of my premises and my business.
I guess it depends on the nature of the business, but for example employees might get personal letters relating to their employment, disciplinary procedures, finance, promotion etc that should be kept private from other employees. As a general rule, I believe that letters addressed personal and private should only ever be opened by the adressee.
randlemarcus said:
Quite agree with the underlying principle, but this guy is weaselling.
Hence my suggestion that this employee should be instructed not to have general company letters marked inappropriately, but private and confidential markings *should* still be respected. If he persists then disciplinary proceedings would eventually follow. I get the feeling that there's a certain amount of ill feeling brewing in which case the employer would do well to be scrupulously correct in their own actions and follow the formal procedure for dealing with weaselage.
TSS said:
Does anybody know the rules about opening post addressed to employees.
Do these letters have the name of the company on too? If its addressed A Employee, TSS ltd then surely its to the company, for the attention of the employee. The company then is the legal entity the the letter is addressed to and the employee is just named to help it find the right contact.
However, he has a manager - get them to manage him. If he's been told not to do it and he still does how can he kick up a fuss?
I can think of business material which is private and confidential (things about other staff for example destined for payroll or personnel) and would suggest these be double wrapped with the inner envelope indicating the confidentiality .e.g 'staff-in confidence').
I do send mail marked P and C if it contains material which the person opening the post should not see.
I would just clarify the pont in writing, explaining that business related material should be marked FAO and P and C if it elates to staffing or matters of staff welfare/payroll, or if there are isues of business confidentiality. Everything else should not be so marked in case you go sick and the work goes unattended to.
JohnSW20 said:
Hi TSS
I know of many companies in recruitment where a director opens every bit of post coming into the office. This is to stop his consultants getting head hunted. I have even been told of one director who will not allow any post to out until he has seen it.
John
I know of many companies in recruitment where a director opens every bit of post coming into the office. This is to stop his consultants getting head hunted. I have even been told of one director who will not allow any post to out until he has seen it.
John
Just because he is paranoid, doesn't mean they are not out to get him?
As general dogsbody in the previous life, I once opened a union communication to the shop steward as I thought I had to open ALL the post, but oh no - everything EXCEPT union communications. Bunch of socialist ar5e.
Surely if the law courts are happy for companies to monitor staff email as it is on company systems and therefore related to the business, the post is the same thing?
Surely if the law courts are happy for companies to monitor staff email as it is on company systems and therefore related to the business, the post is the same thing?
I would agree that Union based correspondence SHOULD NOT be opened by an employer. If an employee is in dispute wioth his employer, an employer opening any correspondence of that nature would severly prejudice his own case against that employee.
However, any other personal correspondence sent directly to a place of work SHOULD be opened by an employer. Who knows, an employee could be using his boss's address for illegal reasons.
My basic rule would be that employees should not assume that they can have personal correspondence to their place of work. However, I would be prepared to allow this if an employee requested such an arrangement for the odd one-off item and I was assured that it was all above board.
However, any other personal correspondence sent directly to a place of work SHOULD be opened by an employer. Who knows, an employee could be using his boss's address for illegal reasons.
My basic rule would be that employees should not assume that they can have personal correspondence to their place of work. However, I would be prepared to allow this if an employee requested such an arrangement for the odd one-off item and I was assured that it was all above board.
My MD occasionally opens post addressed to myself. I actually get most large items posted direct to work as i'm never at home to collect them and they won't fit in my daft little letter box. I don't actually have any issue with it being opened as i've got nothing to hide.
If I didn't want them to see something, i'd make sure it was posted to my home address and i'd arrange to be there to take delivery. Opening employees direct mail should only ever consitute an issue if they've got something they don't want an employer to see, in which case it shouldn't be sent to work.
If I didn't want them to see something, i'd make sure it was posted to my home address and i'd arrange to be there to take delivery. Opening employees direct mail should only ever consitute an issue if they've got something they don't want an employer to see, in which case it shouldn't be sent to work.
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