If it’s one of my close colleagues or someone who knows me really well, it’ll range from almost like a short message (“Hey guys, story is filed, sing out if you need anything else on it”) to containing abbreviations, emoticons and possible memes.
If I’m emailing an external source or client, then it’ll be professional but not formal - as much as I’d like to begin an email with “Dear sirs, I have in hand your electronic communication of the 14th inst…” and sign off with “I remain, etc, Martini Enfield, MA” it would come across as pretty odd, even by my eccentric standards.
internal work emails generally do not contain a greeting, or a signature. Just look who sent it to you, people!!!
So, less formal, however, since I am keenly aware that any communication about a client may be scrutinized by lawyers if a case winds up in court, the emails are very professional.
Mainly this is because the majority of my emails are formal directives to contractors, or responses to “Requests for Information” (RFIs), or bringing to a contractor’s attention a contractual requirement that they may have overlooked. I also copy the entire project team so that everyone knows what our position is on the topic in question.
Before email, all of these communications would have either been sent via a letter in the mail, or communicated by phone. Email serves as a great way to put something in writing that is automatically archived and date-stamped. That way I don’t get a contractor saying something like, “You never told us we had to do such and such.”
I’m also always keenly aware that if our relationship with a contractor goes south, then all of my emails might end up as evidence in court, so that’s why my emails are always professional. I never make jokes via email, for example, because jokes can always be misconstrued later.
For very important communications (like for a “Notice to Proceed” or the termination of a contract), we do still send an actual letter in the mail (sometimes even by certified mail), but will scan it first and send by email attachment.
My son recently got a job offer via email that consisted of an scanned letter sent by email attachment only. No physical letter was ever sent.
I think, in my case, that familiarity breeds informality
If I’m sending or responding to an inquiry from someone I haven’t worked with before the emails tend to be quite formal, with a salutation and and introductory paragraph.
For group emails on current projects I dispense with the salutation but they are otherwise carefully worded for clarity and understanding.
Emails with my long time customers can be very informal. Got one yesterday that said “need 27 PB ASAP” to which I replied “ordered, done”
Well, I haven’t worked in “an organization” since email became widespread, but I have noticed that emails have become more formal. Twenty years ago, we still were conscious of “saving bandwidth.” You even sometimes heard grumping about elaborate sigs. A decade ago, I was surprised to learn that Europeans thought emails should begin with a greeting like a letter, and thought Americans were rude for not including one. Nowadays I notice that nearly every email begins with a pointless greeting, even ones from friends or clients I communicate with every day.
I’m still resisting this trend. When I’m initiating communication with someone I want to approach obliquely or politely, I don’t do it by just repeating their name in the body of the message. I’ll make my first sentence something like “hope this finds you well” or “perhaps you remember that we met at TRB.”
Formal to “business casual” depending on who it’s going to: generally, if it’s to someone who’s a higher rank than me and it’s someone with whom I don’t have much contact day to day, it’ll be formal. The informal stuff doesn’t happen in email; it happens in Hipchat rooms. The really informal stuff happens in non-work-owned chat channels.
