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E-mail Stress Slowing Down Workers, Says Researchers
| Posted by: Ars Technica♠ August 14, 2007 |
E-mail is to blame for productivity lapses and worker stress, according to a new study by researchers from Glasgow and Paisley universities. Psychologist Judith Ramsay, statistician Mario Hair, and computer science professor Dr. Karen Renaud surveyed and monitored 177 employees in order to find out how they deal with the neverending deluge of e-mails at work. The team discovered that over a third of survey participants report being stressed by the sheer number of e-mails they receive during the day, and feel even more stress over the obligation to respond to them quickly.
Another 28 percent of survey respondents said that they feel the volume of e-mail they receive during the day is a source of pressure, although this group reports feeling "driven" by it. Only 38 percent of the entire group say that e-mail keeps them more relaxed, because they don't respond to it until days or weeks later. And let's admit it: we all secretly hate those people for one reason or another.
Additionally, while half of the study's participants report checking their e-mail once an hour—35 percent reported checking every 15 minutes—the researchers found that in reality, people were checking their e-mail far more often: up to 30 to 40 times per hour in some cases. "This indicates the astonishing extent to which email is embedded in our day-to-day lives," the researchers stated.
No kidding: data from AOL and Opinion Research Corporation shows that Americans are increasingly "addicted" to checking their e-mail, with 59 percent of portable device users checking every single time an e-mail comes in and 83 percent of survey respondents checking e-mail every day on vacation.
All of this e-mail checking is not only stressing us out, it's cutting down on our productivity. Humans aren't quite as adept at multitasking as we'd like to think we are, and it takes us a long time to refocus; Microsoft recently said that workers took an average of 15 minutes to get back to what they were working on after being interrupted by a phone call, e-mail, or IM. Dr. Renaud agrees. "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," she said. "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 researchers recommend that employers should lay off on pressuring employees to respond to e-mail quickly, as they would to a phone call. They also recommend that e-mail recipients should avoid constantly checking their e-mail and instead "set aside dedicated e-mail reading times to catch up on their messages." Needless to say, that's a lot easier said than done; I checked my e-mail at least 20 or 30 times during the writing of this article.
Another 28 percent of survey respondents said that they feel the volume of e-mail they receive during the day is a source of pressure, although this group reports feeling "driven" by it. Only 38 percent of the entire group say that e-mail keeps them more relaxed, because they don't respond to it until days or weeks later. And let's admit it: we all secretly hate those people for one reason or another.
Additionally, while half of the study's participants report checking their e-mail once an hour—35 percent reported checking every 15 minutes—the researchers found that in reality, people were checking their e-mail far more often: up to 30 to 40 times per hour in some cases. "This indicates the astonishing extent to which email is embedded in our day-to-day lives," the researchers stated.
No kidding: data from AOL and Opinion Research Corporation shows that Americans are increasingly "addicted" to checking their e-mail, with 59 percent of portable device users checking every single time an e-mail comes in and 83 percent of survey respondents checking e-mail every day on vacation.
All of this e-mail checking is not only stressing us out, it's cutting down on our productivity. Humans aren't quite as adept at multitasking as we'd like to think we are, and it takes us a long time to refocus; Microsoft recently said that workers took an average of 15 minutes to get back to what they were working on after being interrupted by a phone call, e-mail, or IM. Dr. Renaud agrees. "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," she said. "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 researchers recommend that employers should lay off on pressuring employees to respond to e-mail quickly, as they would to a phone call. They also recommend that e-mail recipients should avoid constantly checking their e-mail and instead "set aside dedicated e-mail reading times to catch up on their messages." Needless to say, that's a lot easier said than done; I checked my e-mail at least 20 or 30 times during the writing of this article.
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