Business Apology Help

by Marissa
(Oneal)

I ended up sending an email from my personal computer to one of our former bosses that is no longer with us, in the email it discussed some of the personnel staff changes/moved at our workplace using very exaggerated humor.

It displayed my personal comments, views and thoughts about the people that we have at the top running our company. This email somehow ended up being emailed to our main boss at our office from my personal computer by mistake.

The email was only intended to be viewed by our former boss in which we were both venting and talking about all the new changes that were currently going on. I ended up having to explain my email that had various offensive comments about the main people that run our company.

I feel extremely embarrassed by the fact that my comments and opinions are shared and thought by many people at our workplace but never have our actual thoughts and comments been publicly displayed as mine were or somehow ended up being emailed to the exact person that you are venting about. Somehow this email was sent from my computer at home to the work email of our main boss.

I have invested so much time at my work that I do love what I do and stand behind what our company does. I feel that now my credibility and professionalism has now all gone down the drain. How do I began to apologize for this? Please help.

Comments for Business Apology Help

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It happens....
by: B.

It's probably best to write a formal apology letter to your boss and follow up with a phone call or face to face meet.

At the end of the day the mistake is something any one of us (including your former boss) could see ourselves making. It's the contents that is the issue (although many of us can relate to that too).

Explain yourself honestly and completely and take responsibility. It's really the only thing you can do.

I hope you'll update us on things.

All the best,

Respectful Resignation
by: Anonymous

The professional thing to do would be to apologize personally to your present superior in a handwritten letter, and delivered by hand. Your next step would be to apologize to the rest of the company in an email. Both letters would end with your respectful resignation.

Encourage one another
by: Anonymous

As a golden rule, it is best to ask oneself before sending a letter: if this is going to be published in a newspaper tomorrow, will I be proud? Will it be encouraging?

We all make mistakes, learning from them is wisdom indeed. Admit your mistake with sincerity and humility, it will be your last chance to restore TRUST.

RGA

Business Apology Advice
by: Anonymous

Take the time to write an apology letter that includes all the ingredients they describe on the website. They seem to cover most things if you go through their stuff. Not saying it's going to be easy but it's important for you to think about how to do this -- the real work is yours to do.

You might also consider delivering this as a full and formal public apology to everyone in the company, perhaps through a general email.

Writing a good apology letter will take a lot of work, and sending it publicly will take lot of guts, but that's the point and an important part of the message you want to send along.

Just my thoughts on your situation.

My two cents.
by: M.

What you describe sounds like it could happen to anyone and I can easily see myself discussing staff changes (and going a little overboard about it) with my old supervisor.

Without knowing the specifics of what was contained in the email all I can say is that I am sure those that were the subject of the email can also appreciate the situation and could see themselves doing exactly the same thing.

If what you said in the email was not malicious but true then you need to hold your head up high and only apologize for hurting their feelings by having a private conversation exposed (something you never intended). Equate it to not telling someone that the new outfit they bought looks terrible on them. That is your opinion but you would never mention it because you wouldn't want to hurt them. So, if you can stand behind what you said (depending on what it was) do it, don't shy away from your feelings and thoughts.

On the other hand if you did go a little overboard in the email then you need to apologize for doing so and explain why you did it. You need to speak directly about it to your boss, explain the situation, apologize and clear the air in order to get passed it and reach an understanding about the situation. If they will not give you the time you need to do so then write a long letter explaining everything.

Not only will you be respected for meeting the situation head on but hopefully you will learn what your boss is thinking. At the end of the day, you can only be admired for coming forth and taking full responsibility for what happened.

Professionally, you really have no other choice.

I hope this helps.

M.

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