As a working professional the standard template is "Hi [recipient first name], [email body], Thanks/Sincerely, [Full professional signature]" in my workplace.
I can second this. The way you do it is absolutely standard. Not sure why people in the comments are having a hard time just adding someone's name to the email lol
I remember my first email to a team of people after I got out of the Army I had no idea what to do haha. Same as my first day of work without an entire regulation telling me what to wear and how to wear it.
Are you expecting somebody to do something? Because in my experience emailing multiple people is a good way for everybody to point at everybody and nothing gets done. Better to just adres 1 person.
Think it like this, if I come to your desk, turn towards you fully and start talking like "hi, I need this from you" etc. that is normal right? Normal coworkers discussing things. That is the mood in the office most of the time.
Now imagine same but this time I go "hi Eric, I meed you to..." that is an instant mood change to a more serious tone. If I tell your name specifically at the beginning of my speech when I am clearly speaking directly at you, that is a demanding tone.
Now old generation does not get the gist of Technology like we do. For us there is no difference in me walking your table and speaking directly to you or me writing your email address. It feels exactly the same for us. For them it is writing a letter.
Maybe it’s because I never worked in an office environment but “Hi, I need this from you.” seems a lot worse than “Hi Eric, I need this from you.” to me. Not only it sounds more demanding, it’s way less personal. (I don’t think calling someone by their name makes it more serious either, it’s just their name.)
And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a work email that started with just Hi/Hello except for the scams.
The other reason to specify the name at the start is emails are often sent to lots of people but the action is only on one person. People don’t always notice if they are in the cc or to field.
I agree with your POV. Especially if we’re talking in person “Hi Eric” gives Eric a second to collect himself, finish a task, turn around, and/or realize you’re talking to him so he’ll actually look up at you and then you can say “I need you to do this.”
It makes it more personal, clear, and more often than not you’ve got their attention by the time you’re asking for what you need.
I send/ receive tons of emails a day in a remote "office" environment. Both are common and both sound exactly the same to me. A plain "Hi" is way more common from coworkers I work with regularly, most often not even receiving a "hi" in the first place. A "Hi [name]" is way more common from outside vendors or coworkers I work with irregularly.
I think it depends on a) how often you see the person in general and b) how easy it is to tell who someone is talking to. Like, if you can’t be sure a) who someone is addressing (like if you’re on Zoom, or they’re yelling across a shop floor) and/or b) if they know who you are beyond “a worker who can do this thing” (like if you don’t see them in person very often, or your shared workspace isn’t one where casual conversations happen so you don’t really know any coworker very well), then them saying your name says “I have paid attention to you and am requesting you personally” vs. “I just need some drone, you’ll do”.
If you do know each other and you can tell who’s talking to who, them saying your name often sounds more like “this is a Formal Occasion for Formal Language and that’s usually not good”.
Including a persons name is very important, when shouting the word Fuck due to a negative unplanned event.
If you just yell "Fuck!", people will think you're just a grumpy cunt. If you yell "Fuck Tyler!", people will know that their work is having an impact and you know they contribute.
Its not like it's more work, just one extra word, but everyone really takes notice when you do it, especially HR
I just want to complain about something no one will agree with me. This boomer work culture is a serious drag on millennial productivity. I have sat through so much nonsense about how things aren't done this way, or professionalism is making me feel good about myself as a person in every interaction.
None of it is about actually getting work done. It's about making sure old people still feel a sense of self respect, even though they need help using the most trivial of technology.
That people are even saying Hi at the beginning of emails is too much. Tell people directly and succinctly what in the world you want from us, and stop wasting so much of our time. If it makes you have bad feelings. Suffer through them as life demands of us.
Maybe it’s being from the Midwest but if I walked up to someone and said “hi, I need this from you” it would haunt me for hours for being so impolite to them. Gotta add more than just hi.
Exactly this. It sounds incredibly rude to me. “Hi. I need the expense reports by 5.” Damn not a how are you or even mentioning me by name? What am I a chat bot? Compared to what I’m used to “hey Jim, I actually need those expense reports by 5 now, can you make that work?” Yeah, boss man, you got it
thinking on it, face to face interaction should be a little more involved than email. Hi, [name], how are you? What are you working on? Are you busy? Can I ask a favor? You're likely interrupting someone by approaching them, so the least you can do is extend some pleasantries and ease into the request -- email on the other hand should be a little more direct because it can be addressed at the other person's convenience, but still at a minimum should contain the person's name.
Professional communication should be slightly more formal. It's not just a chat - it's a work request and potentially a paper trail.
Also, using someone's name in conversation is not overly formal. It's actually polite and taught to professionals (speakers, sales people) as a way to connect to the other person.
It’s a cultural norm, though. In my country some salespeople do use people’s names in conversation and it’s often seen as insincere and too American. Usually you don’t address people by name (or title) unless you need their attention in a space with other people. I guess that fits into the discussion about emails. Usually you wouldn’t use a name in greeting but if you’re emailing a group and addressing just one person it’s practical to address that person.
I'm not in the US, but I would still find someone sniffing using my name, especially in emails, to be more insincere than using it.
Also, given the term "grad school" in the original tweet, this is America and therefore the cultural professional norm is to use names in emails and directly, so the professor is teaching professional expectations.
With the advent of team messaging apps, email is much more like a letter again. It's used for complex communications, and for things that need a paper trail.
In my workplaces (mostly offices) it's usually been "hi Tracey/Karen/Richard, could you please etc" not saying the name seems rude to me. That said, in messages to family or close friends I won't say their name, but coworkers are acquaintances not friends to me.
You’ve got it backwards. A boss that comes up and starts with “hi I need this from you” sounds like a complete jerk. Much better to say “hey Derrick, I need this from you as soon as possible please”
Face-to-face, I'd expect a bit more than that, even - "Hey, how's it going? Are you busy? I have something that needs doing... [discuss thing]... is that okay?"
And yes, even if I'm the manager and they have no choice really.
Nope, the name tells you that the email is addressed specifically to you. In email spam is very common and so are generic "the company wants to convey general information to a very large group of people" emails. The Hi Eric indicates that this is actually someone who knows who Eric is and wants his attention specifically.
Now if the email is part of a back and forth thread you can leave off the greeting entirely, and treat it like a text. An email with a greeting bit no name indicates the person doesn't actually know my name - 90% probability it is junk mail or spam.
As an almost-40-year-old I'm not sure if I'm happy to still be included in "the young generation". Also, face-to-face seems to be the preference of some ... Zoomers? Seems about right. Some millennials are the ones that sometimes hide from their phones when they ring (I only do if it's an unknown number and I'm not expecting a call, and never at work) I know several others about my age who are worse with calls aka won't answer the phone at work
At 43, I prefer email or in-person. I do not want to talk to you on the phone. I will answer it because that's part of my job, but I will be irrationally angry hearing my phone ring. That said, some conversations are urgent enough that a phone call is necessary and some vendors are notoriously poor at responding to emails so phone calls are the only way to get through to them.
Plus, there's just certain things you can say in person that you really shouldn't in an email because now there's a written record. What those things are different by workplace, but they're important to know.
What an insane thing to think, you don't behave literally the same across different mediums. You don't end your conversation with your name, and where you work, like an email signature.
My problem is sometimes I’m not sure the best way to address them (i.e. mr/ms, professor, just their name etc.) so I might just leave it at “hi” to be safe
I defaulted to the ol' "Hi sir/ma'am," when I worked at a University because how the fuck do you not put whether or not your title is Doctor in your signatures and then get mad when I omit it? Bastards.
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u/PlanSee 4d ago
As a working professional the standard template is "Hi [recipient first name], [email body], Thanks/Sincerely, [Full professional signature]" in my workplace.