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I just got a new job as a researcher in a lab. My manager introduced me to the whole team through a welcome email. He talked about my qualifications and briefly about my experience. Nobody in the team has responded yet to the email. The email is cc-ed to the whole team -- and this is my first interaction.

How should I reply to it? Or should I even reply to it? In my part of the world, there is no covid-19 and I would be meeting my team in 3 weeks when I reach the new location.

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    I would be brief. Something along the lines of thanking the sender for the introduction, and then addressing your colleagues collectively, indicate that you're looking forward to meeting them in a few weeks' time. I wouldn't expect responses - it's just a perfunctory announcement, and conversations can be started later.
    – Steve
    Feb 16 at 11:22
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    Are you sure it's not meant to be a read-only broadcast message? Some orgs have this culture of announcement about new joiners, so anyone interested in the skillet / in need of help can connect.
    – Sourav Ghosh
    Feb 16 at 13:41
  • @SouravGhosh Not sure. That's why asking. But it is not a broadcast across the organization. I checked the profile of all teammates on Linkedin. They all are closely related to my work.
    – kosmos
    Feb 16 at 14:00
  • Then it's just a more specific version of what Sourav explained.
    – Mast
    Feb 17 at 16:22
  • You should mention the lab, and the research institute and domain (computer science, quantum chemistry, ....) in your question. You could prefer speaking near the coffee machine...
    – Basile Starynkevitch
    Feb 18 at 7:11
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It's optional. No need to worry about it.

If you already have a company e-mail account, you can wait a few days to see if some responses come in. Often it's something like "congrats" or "welcome to the team" or "great to have you". If that's the case a simple, "Thanks for the warm welcome, I'm excited to be working with you and I'm looking forward meeting you in three weeks", will do.

If there is no reaction, then there is no need for you to reply either.

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  • Interestingly, I don't have a company email yet. My personal email ID is now known to my would be colleagues. Not that I am too concerned about it.
    – kosmos
    Feb 17 at 17:19
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While I definitely agree with Hilmar that it is optional to send a reply, I would advise you to do it regardless of a reaction from others.

Thank your manager for the introduction, and since they already mentioned some of your background this is a hook you could use to highlight something, or mention something about your personal life if you want. I'd do something like this (similar to Hilmar):

Thanks for the introduction [Manager Name], I'm looking forward to meeting all of you on the Xth of Month, and really excited to start working on [Product]. Like [Manager Name] already mentioned, I've got a background in XYZ so I think I'll fit right in. A little bit about me as a person: in my free time I love to play boardgames, and I can talk for hours about my passion for astrology.

Cheers,

kosmos

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    Hmm, I would say that is awfully long.....
    – Fattie
    Feb 16 at 12:43
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    @Fattie I'd say that with three sentences (sure, with a comma here and there) is not awfully long. It takes around 10 seconds to read. But I saw your own answer, which sure, it's shorter, but I don't see the value of sending that message as compared to not sending a message at all.
    – Jeroen
    Feb 16 at 12:47
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    I'm coming from a Western Europe POV, which explains some of the differences. Here, however, it is usual that when you know the people you're sending the mail to, formalities can be disregarded. However, messaging people you don't know, usually you use formalities.
    – Jeroen
    Feb 16 at 14:28
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    @Fattie, I'm in the US and the suggested answer doesn't seem long at all. Let alone "awfully long"
    – Kevin
    Feb 16 at 20:15
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    I like the first sentence, not sure on the other two. "I think I'll fit right in" could sound arrogant depending on the culture and I wouldn't give information on outside interests in a work or academic introduction
    – Dragonel
    Feb 16 at 20:36
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The direct answer to your question is keep it short.

Thanks Steve, see you all March 12.

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  • I see this is downvoted into oblivion, but maybe it would be good if the downvoters could comment why is this a bad idea in this context? 9 downvotes so far and not a single explanation.
    – Neinstein
    Feb 17 at 8:45
  • Don't know why people are downvoting - this is also quite apt!
    – sfxedit
    Feb 17 at 9:10
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    I didn't vote but this reply seem awfully short - unless the welcome mail was just as short which doesn't seem to be the case. I feel it's only ok to reply like this if you have at least some rapport with everyone and know how (in-)formal email interactions in this company usually are. If this is the first email I see from someone in reply to a nicely worded welcome mail and well thought introduction, I would find it strange. A lot of people don't care about formalities and might welcome such brevity but your first email is not the place where you want to test that.
    – kapex
    Feb 17 at 9:28
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    I downvoted because it seems entirely redundant. There’s no useful information in the email, so there’s no point sending it. Either send a proper email with some content, or don’t send anything.
    – Tim
    Feb 17 at 18:33
  • Half the problem with this isn't the length, but the tone. If you changed it to "Thanks Steve - I look forward to seeing you all on March 12th!" it'd a much better answer.
    – Kevin
    Mar 9 at 18:31

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