Benefits April 20, 2001

Mired in E-Mail

April 20, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A recent survey by Gartner, a research firm, found that employees spend an average of 49 minutes per day going through their e-mails.
Reported by

The study also found:

  • almost a quarter of respondents spend more than an hour each day sorting through their e-mail,
  • one-third of the internal business e-mail that employees receive is unnecessary, and
  • only 27% of the e-mail that workers receive demands an immediate response.

Employees send e-mails at a high rate in order to be more helpful and communicative, but the constant stream of messages can be counterproductive. To cut down on the clutter, Gartner suggests:

  • training employees to use distribution lists more carefully to avoid sending the message to people who do not need the information
  • avoiding needless responses.
  • end messages with “no reply necessary”

In addition, work groups can use internet tools to communicate such as:

  • chat rooms,
  • bulletin boards and
  • instant messaging

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