If my e-mail box was in paper form, it would probably look like that picture most of the time. Digging into my work archives alone, I’ve received 27,185 e-mails since the beginning of the year. I’ve sent 6,541. I normally have a few hundred sitting in my inbox on any given day. I’m not happy about it. It could easily get into the thousands when returning from a furlough or vacation, and getting it below 20 is truly a feat worth a happy hour celebration.
I remember when getting to work on time was stressful enough. Throw in deadlines and meetings, and you’ve got a fine mix of stress for most workers. But now, it seems the workplace is having a hard time adjusting to the constant day-to-day e-mail stress. Trying to keep up with a stream of incoming mail interrupts normal work and leaves you tired, frustrated and unproductive.
Checking The Inbox
Some research shows employees feel pressured to check and respond quickly to e-mails, with some checking their inbox up to 40 times an hour. Workers also said they felt pressured to switch applications to check whether e-mails were urgent, before switching back to their work.
Karen Renaud, of Glasgow University, who was involved in the research, said, “E-mail is the thing that now causes us the most problems in our working lives. It’s an amazing tool, but it’s got out of hand. E-mail harries you. You want to know what’s in there, especially if it’s from a family member or friends, or your boss, so you break off what you are doing to read the e-mail.”
“The problem is that when you go back to what you were doing, you’ve lost your chain of thought and, of course, you are less productive. People’s brains get tired from breaking off from something every few minutes to check e-mails. The more distracted you are by distractions, including e-mail, then you are going to be more tired and less productive.”
How Long Will People Wait for a Response?
A classic survey by e-mail marketing firm TargetX indicated that 13% of their respondents said they’d take their business elsewhere if they don’t receive a response to an e-mail within one hour. 15% said they were willing to wait up to three hours, 8% would wait six hours. Almost everyone (88%) expected a response within 24 hours. To customers, waiting for an e-mail response has become the equivalent of standing in line. This means that your company could lose potential business if it doesn’t provide an immediate response. You probably will lose business if e-mails are not returned same day.
How To Manage E-mail
A while back, I watched a video seminar from Merlin Mann given to Google employees in July 2007. Mann, a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 Folders website, talked about Getting Things Done, the importance of getting your inbox to zero, and strategies for dealing with high volume e-mail. Even though the seminar is almost an hour long, I highly recommend you watch or listen to it because his tips have helped get my box down to under 100 many times in the past. My weakness is developing the daily habit.
