Drowning in a tidal wave of e-mail? You’re not alone kicking to stay afloat, says a study of workplace e-mail practices.
While e-mail is now necessary to conduct business, many workers struggle to identify and manage what is relevant among incoming messages, says study author Christina Cavanagh.
The study’s North American findings show employees are still reporting working longer hours as a direct result of e-mail volumes: 72 per cent indicated they spend more time handling e-mail than a year ago, while 39 per cent check their e-mails regularly on weekends.
Workers’ dislike of e-mail has grown, with 56 per cent citing mental fatigue in handling and receiving time-wasting messages.
Cavanagh, a professor at the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey School of Business, found that organizations are not taking a proactive role in helping staff manage e-mail. “While organizations got good marks in using e-mail to keep their employees better informed, they’re failing miserably in trying to help employees deal with unproductive e-mail habits,” she says.
Most initiatives were undertaken by individuals on an ad hoc basis.
The current North American average for workplace e-mail is now 54 per day, up 13 per cent from 2002. Non-essential, non-spam messages have increased by 41 per cent.
The study also shows that e-mail response times have improved dramatically, with 39 per cent now able to do so in the same day. This finding appears to correlate to devoting extra work time to e-mail.
On a more positive note, fewer employees are checking messages while on holidays and many are trying to acquire skills to manage their inboxes more efficiently.
Cavanagh says the corporate cost of e-mail overload can be calculated at 12 per cent of payrolls every year ($7,750 for an employee earning a $50,000 salary plus benefits).
A key basis for this calculation is spending one extra hour per weekday per employee managing unnecessary and low-value e-mail messages.
