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Workers suffering from 'email stress'
Last updated at 00:07am on 13.08.07
Workers checked their email up to 40 times an hour
Targets, deadlines and getting to work on time have long been the main sources of pressure for most workers, but now it seems the office is being plagued by a new problem: e-mail stress.
According to new research increasing numbers of workers say they are swamped with a never-ending tide of messages.
Trying to keep up with a stream of incoming mail interrupts normal work and leaves staff tired, frustrated and unproductive, it concluded.
Employees also feel under pressure to check and respond quickly to emails, with some checking their inbox up to 40 times an hour.
The research, by a team of academics from Glasgow and Paisley universities, found that people check their emails more often than they admitted in a survey.
Half the study's 177 participants said they looked at their email more than once an hour, with 35 per cent claiming to check every 15 minutes, but monitoring equipment fitted to their computers showed it was more often.
Workers also said they felt pressured to switch applications to check whether emails were urgent, before switching back to their work.
Karen Renaud, of Glasgow University, who was involved in the research, said: 'Email 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. Email 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 email.
"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 emails. The more distracted you are by distractions, including email, then you are going to be more tired and less productive."
The computer scientist, along with psychologist Judith Ramsay and statistician Mario Hair, both of Paisley University, surveyed mainly academics and those in creative jobs to discover how they dealt with emails received at work.
They found more than a third - 34 per cent - felt 'stressed' by the sheer volume of emails they received and an obligation to respond quickly.
Another 28 per cent said the pressure of receiving emails made them feel 'driven'.The remaining 38 per cent were classed as 'relaxed' because they did not reply to an email until a day or even a week later.
They also discovered women felt under more pressure than men to respond quickly to emails.
"Females, in particular, tended to feel more pressure to respond than males," their report said. "Many individuals seem to feel pressured by email and feel this pressure negatively as stress.'
Employees in creative jobs or work that requires long periods of concentration to get an important project finished, such as academics, writers, architects and journalists, were likely to be worst affected, they said.
They said people sending emails should not put recipients under pressure to respond as quickly as they would to a phone call.
They also suggested recipients should avoid constantly monitoring their emails 'since this will negatively affect all other work activities' and should instead set aside dedicated email reading times to catch up on their messages.
Reader views (17)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
I have been a Senior VP as well as a COO and as I saw the connundrum of email overload begin to engulf me I devised a header return to all emails. The header on effect told the sender thank you for sending me the email however, I will not respond nor comment to any email message that is not directed wholly to me and requests my opinion or decision. My staff were well aware of their levels of authority and our very effective weekly staff meetings handled 99% of the issues effectively. People who are becoming swamped with email and the attendant stress are simply not managing down, side ways and up well enough. It does take internal, institutional change and training to do this however.
- Robert, Denver, USA
This article only touches upon work emails received during work hours and the stress described is indeed legitimate.
When the volume of incoming email per day exceeds 150-200 the sheer volume of these messages allows for only an appoximate 2 minutes to read, analyze, and form a response for each email. IF all you are doing all day is handling email. Forget about meetings, project plans, phone calls, administration and the host of other productive activities most should be engaging in.
Now if this isn't enough of a problem consider the individuals (not unlike myself) who are also required to carry a Blackberry so this process can continue no matter whether you are at the office or not.
There is nothing more rewarding than a buzzing Blackberry that happily presents me with an email from my boss at 3am on a Sunday morning (some of us sleep) asking for clarification on a project plan submitted for review about 4 weeks prior.
- Bill, Phila, PA
I wouldn't say that the "stream of incoming mail interrupts normal work" for me, as e-mail is "normal work" for many jobs. Reading and answering e-mail is just as much a part of my job as answering the phone or talking face-to-face with co-workers.
- John, Perry, Florida, U.S.
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