IT IS first thing Monday morning and whose heart does not sink at the prospect of the number of emails waiting in their inbox.
Huge amounts of time are being wasted by thousands of staff in the region merely managing their email inbox every week. In fact, one in three employees spend so much time on it that it adds up to nearly a fifth of their working time… the equivalent of a day a week.
This statistic is among the results of a survey of 1,000 decision makers carried out by an email technology company. Its findings highlight the need for all businesses to carry out regular productivity analysis and to invest in ways to make email management easier, says IT expert Tony Capewell.
“There are so many ways to communicate at work yet email remains a favourite,” said Mr Capewell, managing director of IT support company Your Cloud Works. “We seem to have a love/hate relationship with email.”
The survey showed that 61% of people prefer to use email over team communication tools such as Slack.
“But it is also the tool that we most love to hate,” Mr Capewell said. “Who has not switched on their laptop on a Monday morning and instantly felt their heart plummet when they have seen how many emails are waiting for them?”
The survey, run by a company that makes a tool to make email easier, revealed:
- 70% of people believe email is one of the biggest productivity drains;
- 73% say too much time is spent trying to find emails;
- 62% of people still keep hard copy print-outs of emails.
Mr Capewell urged businesses to investigate more efficient email management as a way to improve productivity. His company works with clients across Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire.
Tony Capewell believes all local businesses should do a productivity analysis and consider clever tools that make it easier to manage email. Or alternatives for internal communication, such as Slack.
…………