The straitjacket of professional messaging still has a bright future ahead of it. Indeed, the life of a French manager is on average: 205 emails received each week, 64 sent (74% internally) and interaction with at least 52 different people. In addition, one in two responses are sent within an hour of receiving the email, 18% within five minutes. The figures explode on the manager’s floor: 342 emails received, 100 sent, 81 contacts and if 56% of responses are made in less than an hour, one in five is in less than five minutes. Finally, one in four managers reconnects between 50 and 150 evenings per year (Infobesity and Digital Collaboration-ICN, October 2024). This exposure to hyperconnection leads to a risk of error: 46% of employees have already sent a professional email to the wrong person with very embarrassing consequences for the senders in 16% of cases, according to a Flashes survey for Hostinger published in November 2024.
This hyperconnection also hides a more worrying reality, especially for women: 20% of employees and 40% of managers have already received professional emails whose content was intimate or seductive (Flashes/Hostinger). This particularly affects 18-24 year olds (45%) and 25-34 year olds (41%). 39% say that these emails contained requests for personal or intimate information and 38% suggested meetings outside of work (one in two women aged 18 to 24).
“The intrusion of inappropriate content into professional messaging reflects persistent gender inequalities in the digital workspace, where violence (sometimes subtle) continues to permeate professional interactions,” analyzes Léa Paolacci, Flashs research manager. . One in five women say they have received professional emails of an explicitly sexual nature and 13% of respondents say they have received criticism about their appearance or character. Salacious, schoolboy, ribald, heavy flirting or downright pornographic, this content has no place in professional emails. “Even in a private sphere, we should no longer go in this direction because they can fuel a case,” warns Françoise de Saint-Sernin, labor law lawyer. Also pay attention to the 124 messages sent each week on average per employee, and even 144 per manager (ICN), via Slack or Teams: nothing is simpler than a screenshot that we send to HR.
Beware of repeatedly sending emails that are too “dry”
However, it would be wrong to believe that we cannot say anything by email. “Generally speaking, the Court of Cassation is currently extremely favorable to freedom of expression. Indeed, an employee like a manager who is on the Management Committee can give their opinion because freedom of expression, provided “not committing abuse is a fundamental right: we cannot therefore be sanctioned or dismissed for having used it”, specifies Maître de Saint-Sernin. “If the industrial tribunal judges that the dismissal is linked to this freedom of expression, this entails the nullity of the dismissal, and it is “contaminating”, that is to say that we cannot oppose another grievance to the employee.
Behind this, there is the question of reinstatement and payment of the person’s salary, who retains any possible replacement income: the employer can be sentenced to years of salary”, underlines the lawyer. However, “there is “There are also many managers who are currently dismissed for moral harassment”, she notes. “Among the evidence that the employer can provide is the sending of emails which are too ‘dry’, with ‘targeted’ reproaches . Managers can no longer afford to be spontaneous or direct,” she insists. However, according to the Flashs survey for Hostinger (Ibid), 38% of women surveyed say they have seen their skills called into question by email because of their gender. “The justice system can be very harsh towards harassers or those considered as such.”
Generally, complete anonymity is required for victims who testify: whether the harassment is true or false, it is therefore impossible for the alleged harassing employee to defend themselves. “I recommend that managers be extremely careful, to check every word, so that these emails cannot fuel a case of moral harassment,” concludes Françoise de Saint-Sernin.
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