KEY questions answered by the experts.

Q: A FRIEND continues to send risqué jokes to my work email address. I have asked him to stop but they still occasionally appear. Can I be liable for these if our IT department decides to crack down?

A: THE first step is to have another word with your friend. Explain the potential seriousness of the situation for you if it is something that your company takes a firm line on.

Ask him to take you off his round-robin distribution list. If he is a good friend, he will understand your situation. If that fails, however, you might want to have a word with your line manager to let them know that you have done what you can to prevent this happening.

You can’t be held responsible for what other people choose to send you, after all.

The very last resort would be to arrange for emails from your friend to your work address to be blocked altogether – although this would be quite drastic and restrict work-related communications with your friend. Overall, I would suggest that the best course of action is simply to ask your friend to make sure you’re not on his distribution list.

JENNY UNGLESS
Life coach, Monster UK and Ireland