Scenario:
You work for the large tax consulting firm Temiskaming Tax and Accounting Specialists.
February is the busiest month of the year, especially when it comes to helping clients complete
their personal income taxes. Your company has over 400 employees in 20 offices throughout
Ontario and Quebec, and you are Director of Communications.
Recently, you have noticed that employees are not using professional email etiquette when
corresponding with colleagues and clients. Frequently, the “reply all” function is used
unnecessarily to send around inappropriate jokes or “for sale” ads among the 400 employees.
One employee even emailed all staff (and some clients) using the company email system, to sell
raffle tickets for their child’s minor hockey fundraiser. In corporate meetings, branch managers
have told you that they are concerned with the lack of professionalism exhibited by some
employees when they email their clients. You have heard that many emails are not clear and
specific and are unprofessional in terms of content and tone. You have seen that employees are
not using full sentences and that they are overusing emojis and text-talk (lol, brb, fomo etc.).
Many newly-hired accountants have not even formatted their signature block with their full
corporate contact information and logo. Some employees include inspirational (non-approved)
quotations in their signature block like “Live your dreams,” when the official company slogan is:
Taxes done right, on time, every time. Worse, many employees frequently forget to include
attachments, creating unnecessary, time-wasting email exchanges. You have even seen one
message where an accountant emailed a client with the subject line: “FYI. LOL!” and addressed
the client as “Yo, buddy!”
You decide to take on this communications problem and send a memo to all branch managers.
This memo will be addressed to all employees because you wish to remind everyone about the
importance of professional communication when writing emails ahead of the busy tax season
(when you know that email volume will increase). In your memo, you wish to provide essential
tips on how to write proper business emails for both internal audiences (employees) and
external audiences (clients).
Your task is to:
1: Write a correctly-formatted MEMO to all employees explaining the importance of
professional email etiquette. This memo should outline some key tips on how to write effective,
professional emails.
2: Write an email, to which this memo will be attached, addressed to all branch managers. This
email will be very brief, asking branch managers to forward the attached memo to their
employees. You would also appreciate it if branch managers could post this memo on bulletin
boards in the office, for those who are working onsite. You also suggest that managers help
each individual employee set up their signature block correctly.
Assignment details:
• Use your own name; your title is Director of Communications.
• Make up an email address for yourself and the company.
• Use the date February 7, 2022 as the date for your memo and email.
• Use a clear and specific subject line in both the memo and email.
• Your assignment should be formatted to look like a memo and an email. You should
format a professional letterhead with the company name and address for the memo.
This information should be contained in the “Header” section of a MS Word doc.
• The main branch (head office), where you work, is found on 222-a MacDougall Street,
Haileybury, Ontario, P0J1K0.
• Your memo should be no longer than 1 page of single-spaced 12-point font. Remember
to use formatting elements to make both your email and memo easy to read. Bullet
points are encouraged, but use full sentences, parallel style (p. 54, 116-7), and correct
punctuation.
• The email should be on page 1 and the memo should be on page 2 of your assignment.
No title page is needed. No references page, either.
• Consult your textbook and the Netiquette agreement, and use common knowledge, to
decide which email tips you are going to include in your email. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE AND
COPY SENTENCES FROM THE TEXTBOOK OR DR. BROWN’S POWERPOINTS WORD FOR
WORD (VERBATIM). Use your own words and use clear language. You do not need to
cite the textbook or course material in Brightspace; however, do not copy words
verbatim from the textbook. Students who copy directly from the textbook will receive 0
and be forwarded for plagiarism offences.
• Use strong grammar, correct punctuation, and the principles of the Seven C’s of
Communication in your writing.
• Submit by the due date on Brightspace as a Word or pdf document.
• Your assignment is graded for formatting, content, grammar, and professional Business
English. An A assignment is considered “send ready;” that is, when your professor or TA
reviews your submission, as in the real world, an A assignment will be perfect and ready
to send out to staff and employees. An A assignment contains no errors and is complete,
courteous, coherent, and concise. An A assignment meets professional business
standards. Assignments with errors in formatting, logic, clarity, and grammar, are
downgraded to B / C / D/ or fail.