Emails in the Workplace
Tips From Your Corporate Training Company
WHY EMAIL OVERLOAD HURTS!
Work email overload. You’ve likely dealing with it right now and its not going to get any better unless something changes.
It is expected that the world will exchange 246 billion emails a year by the end of 2019 and a large portion of these email exchanges are done in the workplace.
So, why has a communication tool like email, that is supposed to help us communicate more effectively become such a time suck for employees but more so for managers and up?
It all comes down to the use of professional email and not understanding when to take a step back before hitting Send.
Consider the number of emails in your inbox today that include one-word responses like “OK”, “Sure”, or perhaps the very effective “Yes”. Employees may not know any better or truly understand the bigger impact of poor professional communications.
Statistics have shown that proper email etiquette in the workplace could save up to 160 work hours in a year. That’s a lot of productivity flying out the window. And that’s just one of the pain points of ineffective use of email in the workplace.
Relying on sending emails for anything and everything has drastically reduced the time spent in face to face discussions. In relevant cases, face to face discussion can create a much healthier conversation than relying on the interpretation of tone in an email. The understanding of the project, question or task is also clearly laid out when speaking to someone in person versus trying to decode what a person may be asking for in email format.
Turn around time also tied directly to productivity is also affected by the poor use of email. One, the sender may be emailing the wrong person for the answer that they need. This means a time lag in getting what they need to continue to get the job done until they find the right person. Two, the person that received the email may not be around and may not check their email until later in the day or that week meaning the sender will be waiting on important information until then. Three, unless employees have been trained to set timelines for every request, the turnaround time on a request is left undefined and could be done very quickly or not done for weeks based on the receiver’s interpretation of importance.
Surveys show that the average inbox contains only 38% important, relevant emails. This means 62% of the emails in the average inbox are not important and can be processed in bulk or cut out completely.
Aside from work and work-related issues, poor use of email can also lead to personal problems. Studies have shown that the number of emails in one’s email inbox is correlated to their workplace stress levels meaning the less email or the less access to email, the lower your workplace stress can be.
It's time to start using email more effectively. If your organization does not have workplace email tips in place or policy in use, begin the conversation today with this free download entitled 10 Tips for Workplace Email Excellence.
It provides 10 things to consider before hitting send and a very easy guide for employees to follow as you work towards managing what can feel like an endless inbox.
Consider training up your employees on the proper use of email in the workplace and remembering common tips like double checking emails before sending them out, using instant messaging as an option where available, writing clear subject lines followed by effective emails and reading emails through before sharing them. Using personal email is different from a professional email address and without clear guidance from managers, employees may end up causing more damage than good using the tool.
If you'd like to implement a workplace email etiquette training program in your organization but don't know where to start, contact the corporate training experts at TrainingFolks today. We have helped many clients with skills training across the board and email is just one those critical skills!
