Managing email effectively is crucial for business owners. Many accumulate vast archives, unsure why they’re saving everything. Concerns about potential lawsuits or perceived legal requirements often drive this behavior. However, hoarding emails can create unnecessary risks and costs.
To navigate email retention, consider these points:
1. Save Important Records: Distinguish between emails and actual records. Save records of business transactions, especially contracts. If a contract arrives as an email attachment and the sender confirms acceptance within the email body, save both. If you would keep the document in paper form, save the email. Otherwise, discard it. Emails generated during contract negotiations are often work-in-progress materials reflecting individual thoughts, not organizational policy, and can be deleted.
When retaining important emails, store them formally in a designated system where they can be easily found. Printing and filing them might be the best option.
2. Situations Requiring Increased Caution: During legal proceedings, refrain from deleting anything relevant. When facing imminent legal action or a foreseeable lawsuit due to a significant error, exercise extra caution and seek legal advice.
3. The Case Against Keeping Everything: Most emails are unlikely to cause harm, but the sheer volume can be problematic. Imagine firing an employee who then sues the company. A subpoena demanding all emails from the past three years related to the case could trigger a costly and time-consuming review process, even if the emails are ultimately irrelevant. The plaintiffs’ bar understands this and may exploit the situation to force a settlement. A poorly worded email expressing anger could also be discovered.
4. Developing an Email Retention Policy: Implement a policy where employees decide within 30 days if an email qualifies as a record. If not, it should be deleted. This encourages employees to consider what constitutes a record. Some legal professionals advocate for immediate deletion of all emails.
Avoid backing up emails, as this simply duplicates the problem. Old emails offer little value to opposing parties in litigation, but the cost of reviewing them can be used as leverage during discovery to force a settlement.
Cleaning out old emails can be challenging, but it is a necessary step in mitigating risk and managing company resources.