According to a new national survey by Harris Interactive for The Marlin Company, 10% of U.S employees say their company has used e-mail to fire or lay off employees.  And 17% indicated their boss used e-mails to avoid other difficult face-to-face conversations.

“E-mail has become the new shield of today’s business. Companies hide behind it to avoid the negative reactions of unhappy employees,” said Frank Kenna III, president of The Marlin Company. “While e-mail works fine for day-to-day communication, the last thing you want to do is use it for something as sensitive as layoffs.  That risks turning former employees into disgruntled ones who can become walking negative advertisements for your firm.”

The survey also found almost one quarter (23%) of workers have received a politically incorrect e-mail, 15% have been the recipients of an e-mail sent in anger, and 13% reported receiving flirtatious e-mails. “E-mail etiquette is still in the middle ages and for too many employees anything goes is the rule,” said Kenna.

U.S workers make other e-mail-related errors at work. Almost 20% said they had sent an e-mail to the wrong person, and 38% had sent an e-mail without an intended attachment.

While these results are a bit unsettling for sure, I’m a little surprised that some the numbers aren’t higher.  Nearly everyone I know (myself included) has sent an e-mail to the wrong person or without a mentioned attachment at least once.  One number I thought was way too high - could one out of 10 employees really have first-hand knowledge of e-mail being used to let people go?  If so, that’s incredibly sad.  If you have the authority to dismiss employees, please do not think for even one second that this is acceptable behavior.  The fact that you exert power over someone else’s livelihood means, in no uncertain terms, that you have the responsibility to deliver your decision in person.