Current email practice in UK businesses is leading to poor relationships, work-related stress and basic errors, according to the Mesmo Consultancy.
Dr Monica Seeley, international expert on email management, founder of the Mesmo Consultancy and author of Brilliant Email, argued that staff constantly dipping in and out of emails is creating errors.
She noted that every new email distracts employees, taking them completely off course and dramatically reducing productivity.
Her comments come after a Mesmo Consultancy survey revealed that a quarter of workers now expect a response to an email within an hour.
Offering advice on how to deal with the problem of losing time through emails, Dr Seeley said employees should set out a timeframe for checking their latest mail, whether it be every half hour, every hour or just three times a day.
She noted that how often emails are checked depends on the job people do within an organisation.
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Good email practise should be taught in Schools and colleagues and reinforced at a company induction. Communication via the correct medium for the urgency of action/response also needs to be taught.
In many companies managers and staff email when they should telephone I still get people ringing me to ask why I have not responded to the email they sent 30 minutes ago as its urgent. Sorry but in my book email is third on the list after walking to my desk or telephoning me which if a response is needed in 30 mins is what should have happened.
The biggest theft of time from email are the I’m watching my back emails so I’ll send this out to everyone.
I encourage staff to have set times for checking emails which suit the business need. Sadly many cannot escape the lure of the message that pops up on screen for a few seconds. It is a major problem that most companies do not recognise or address. Oh a message from the Guardian on line has just popped up in the corner, It’s 8.35 am can I resist looking until lunch time?