As a manager, I've sometimes used the technique of adding something like: "It's nothing serious" to the message. Best way of course is giving context but hey, everyone is human.
As a receiver of that message I'd say it doesn't help much. The stress comes from the information-less poke.
Ideally you go straight to the point: “hi jack, I need to check in on XXX so we can update the quarterly goals, can you send me Y / can we speak?”. Nothing is gained by checking immediate availability with a greeting message.
The downside is that if every significant bit of communication is straight to the point and in public ... how should sensitive personal infomation be handled ?
It's either:
- out there in public, OR
- clearly sensitive as it's the only bit of communication the other party is masking.
Depending on your environment workers may or may not want open signals about sensitive events being telegraphed.
This will also help prime many people, and thereby improve the conversation, so it is probably worth doing even if the person won’t be made anxious.