All staff emails

All-staff email messages are sent via Internal Communications and are primarily reserved for business critical messages – those messages which are urgent or important and of concern to a large majority of staff.

There has been a tendency to overuse the ‘all-staff’ system in recent years, which has led to emails losing their impact. Therefore, the Internal Communications team has developed a new service level agreement (SLA) which aims to enhance the effectiveness and impact of our communication channels across the University.

To help you decide whether an all-staff email is relevant for your communications, please consider the following:

Is the message actually relevant to all (or at least a large number of) staff?

Could it be sent to a more specific group instead (e.g. faculty colleagues only) using alternative means?

Is the message urgent and business-critical or could it appear on the Staff Noticeboard or within the staff newsletter @beds instead?

 

The SLA outlines the process for requesting an all staff email, however some of the main points have been summarised below:

• Please give at least two weeks’ notice if you would like an all staff email
• The date that the email is distributed will depend on other requests we have received.
• Each all staff email must agreed to, signed off by and attributed to a member of the Vice Chancellor’s Executive Group (VCEG) or a senior leader/director.
• The Internal Communications teamhas the right to amend the email so that it is in keeping and consistent with house style. If any amendments are made, we will check with the sender for approval before the email is sent.
• The Internal Communications team reserves the right to refuse to send an email to all staff if this does not meet the criteria set out in the SLA or if we feel that there are other channels which would be better served for the communication.The system is unable to accept attachments. Instead we advise that hyperlinks are included within the body of the email. Alternatively, such messages and attachments should be posted on the Staff Noticeboard.
• Please explore alternative communication channels before opting for an all-staff email, such as an article in the staff newsletter, a digital sign, a noticeboard or banner on the intranet or events notice among others. 

To request an all-staff email, or for further advice on promoting your message, please contact the team on: 

Internalcommunications@beds.ac.uk