Email 'stresses out' employees

Tuesday, 14 Aug, 2007

Workers find the constant stream of emails they receive every day stressful and disruptive, according to new research.

The joint study from researchers at Glasgow and Paisley universities found that just 38 per cent of emails were considered not stressful or to not require immediate action.

As a result of regularly receiving emails and continuously checking them - between 30 and 40 times an hour for an average computer worker - the scientists believe employees are less able to concentrate on their work and become less productive.

"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," said Dr Karen Renaud from the University of Glasgow.

"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," she added.

Interestingly, the study also found that workers believed they checked their inbox much less regularly than was actually the case, potentially suggesting further stress surrounding the anticipation of important unread emails.

Five Tips for a more effective CV.

© Adfero Ltd

Back to listing