| Employees' writing skills - or the lack of them - | | | | the company insurance program." Who was supposed |
| substantially affect the bottom line in ways you may | | | | to pay the 5%? According to this sentence, the |
| never have considered. Here are just a few. | | | | employees would pay - but in fact the company was |
| * Badly written instructions can lead to incorrect | | | | to pay. It should have read, "By paying a premium of |
| procedures, lost time, damaged equipment, lost | | | | 5% of wages, the company can enroll all employees |
| customers - and lost profit. | | | | in its insurance program." A big difference - and |
| * Ineffective letters, which often took too long to | | | | potentially a deal breaker. |
| write in the first place, can create a poor company | | | | A passenger broke into the flight deck on a |
| image, wasted time, bad customer or supplier | | | | commercial airplane. Subsequent investigation revealed |
| relations, lost customers - and lost profit. | | | | that written regulations said, "The doors to the flight |
| * Interdepartmental miscommunication - often | | | | deck must be locked only on takeoff and landing." |
| through incomprehensible e-mail exchanges - can lead | | | | What exactly does that mean? Must they be |
| to fragmentation of the workforce, loss of corporate | | | | unlocked at other times? Or are they simply |
| loyalty, missed collaboration and innovation | | | | permitted to be unlocked at other times? |
| opportunities, possibly lost employees resulting in | | | | Misinterpretation of this ambiguous message almost |
| more recruitment and training costs - and lost profit. | | | | resulted in disaster. |
| * Cold, impersonal "boilerplate" letters in response to | | | | An airport terminal sign read, "No smoking areas |
| customers' problems or complaints can lead to loss of | | | | available." Does that mean there are no areas where |
| those customers, bad news spread to their friends | | | | people may smoke? Or does it mean there are areas |
| and colleagues, loss of present and future income - | | | | set aside for non-smokers? |
| and lost profit. | | | | A company tried to cancel a contract, believing the |
| Mangled syntax can cause expensive confusion, | | | | contract allowed it to do so under current conditions. |
| inconvenience or even danger. Here are just a few | | | | But because of the incorrect placement of a comma |
| examples. | | | | in the agreement, the other party contested the |
| A consultant's proposal on a new benefits package | | | | cancellation, and successfully sued the company for |
| for his corporate client read, "By paying a 5% | | | | $1.2 million. Expensive comma! |
| premium on wages, all employees will be enrolled in | | | | |