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Internal Communications Policy

I. Introduction

As a Christian institution of higher learning, how we communicate with one another is a primary focus of our College community. The College seeks to facilitate an environment where its members relate to one another with integrity, professionalism, and affirmation grounded in biblical principle. To this end, the College has developed this policy containing communication expectations, procedures and general guidelines for community use.

II. Usage and Expectations

A. Endorsed Means of Campus-wide Communication

In addition to direct means of communication (person-to-person and telephone), the College provides and expects all employees to use and to be aware of the information distributed via these primary means of campus communication:
  1. Campus Mail
  2. Electronic Mail and Calendar
  3. Voice Mail
  4. MCSquare Portal
  5. College web site
B. Expected Time Period to Accept Campus Communications

Official campus communication may be sent by any and/or all of these above means. All employees are expected, on a regular basis, to accept their mail communication (campus, electronic, voice, and portal) within a reasonable time period from the date of receipt. Under normal circumstances a "reasonable time period" would be defined as 1-2 working days. The term "accept" is defined as reading campus and electronic mail, listening to voice mail, and viewing portal announcements.

Periodic circumstances, such as a vacation or an extended time off campus, may prevent a response within a normal time frame. During this time, it is expected that employees will make this known to those on campus who may try to contact them, i.e., by notifying the campus post office, leaving a message on their voice mail, or an auto-reply on their e-mail.

C. Use of Electronic Calendars

The process of scheduling inter-office meetings is also a form of campus communication. In order to facilitate an efficient, effective scheduling process, all college employees are expected to use and maintain their GroupWise electronic calendar. Failure to use this function results in wasted time, inefficiency, and duplicated effort for other parties in the scheduling process. Employees who do not use the GroupWise calendar assume the risk of being absent from important meetings and are responsible to follow up on what they miss accordingly.

III. Policy Maintenance

The Director of Human Resources and the Chief Information Officer are jointly responsible for maintaining and revising this policy.

Author: Department of Public Relations and Information Technology Services
Approval: College Council
Created: 10/1/00
Revised: 06/16/06

 

Messiah College | One College Avenue | Grantham, PA 17027 | 717-766-2511
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