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MANAGING E-MAIL OVERLOAD
Expert Tips Help Individuals and Employers Get a Grip on E-Mail
Are you drowning in e-mail? If so, you are not alone. E-mail has become the most common way for business people to communicate with internal and external audiences. And with e-mail growing at a rate of 66% annually, there is no end in sight. Over 1.4 trillion e-mail messages were sent from North American businesses in 2001, up from 40 billion in 1995, according to International Data Corp. research.
"All that sending and receiving, responding and deleting is taking an enormous toll on workplace productivity," said Nancy Flynn, author of The ePolicy Handbook and Writing Effective E-Mail, and executive director of The ePolicy Institute, www.epolicyinstitute.com. How significant is the impact of e-mail on business? Research shows the average office worker spends 49 minutes managing e-mail daily, with top management devoting four hours a day to the task.
"We're likely to see e-mail overload grow into e-mail addiction for people who just cannot unplug," Flynn said, noting that wireless e-mail devices are compounding the problem for employees and executives who like to stay online while on the road or at home.
Keeping e-mail under control requires self-discipline, time-management skills, and adherence to your company's e-mail policy. For individuals and organizations eager to get a grip on e-mail overload, The ePolicy Institute offers e-mail management tips.
E-MAIL MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR INDIVIDUALS:
1. Don't Feel Obligated to Read and Respond to Every Message.
Fully 96% of executives read and respond to their own e-mail, according to a recent survey conducted by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), WorldCom Conferencing, and The ePolicy Institute. No wonder it takes executives half the day to sort and send messages electronically.
Remember, you are under no obligation to read or reply to every e-mail message that lands in your mailbox. You determine which messages to read and when to respond, if ever. If a message is truly important, the sender, not the receiver, should follow-up with a phone call to make sure the message was received and a timely response is forthcoming.
2. Assign Your Administrative Professional the Role of Electronic Gatekeeper
Armed with a valid e-mail address, sales people and spammers can slip past the gatekeeper and communicate directly with the decision-maker. While nearly all executives read and respond to their own e-mail, many also rely on administrative professionals to help manage their electronic burden. According to the IAAP, WorldCom, ePolicy Institute Survey, 26% of admins screen executives' in-coming e-mail; 29% are authorized to delete e-mail addressed to the executive; and 43% ghostwrite e-mail responses under their executives' names. Busy executives can keep electronic mailboxes clean of unsolicited sales pitches and spam by assigning administrative professionals the role of electronic gatekeeper.
3. Whittle Down Your E-Mail
Ignore and delete as much e-mail as possible. Read and respond only to legitimate mail. Before you start opening mail:
--Do a quick subject line scan and delete any messages that obviously are sales pitches or spam. Don't take time to open or read this mail. Just trash it.
--Delete all messages from strangers or senders with odd addresses.
--Empty your delete folder regularly. Messages will sit in your electronic trash bin forever unless you take steps to empty it.
4. Be a Strategic Reader
Flynn recommends readers take a strategic approach to e-mail, mindful of the fact that not all messages warrant the reader's time and attention. She suggests busy executives:
--Scan the first three sentences for the meat of the message. Reply immediately to succinct, to-the-point messages. Set aside wordy missives for later.
--Prioritize your e-mail. High-priority and business-related messages should be read and responded to first. Depending upon your organization's e-mail policy, personal correspondence-if it is permitted at all--should be saved for breaks, down-time, and/or after work.
--Don't waste time replying to copies and blind carbon copies unless your commentary is critical to the matter at hand.
5. Avoid E-Mail Altogether
E-mail is quick and convenient, but it is not always the best means of communication. Avoiding e-mail when the message would best be communicated via telephone or face-to-face will help reduce the burden of workplace e-mail. Avoid e-mail entirely when:
--Your message is extremely important or confidential, and you can't risk a breach of privacy.
--You need to deliver unpleasant news and don't want to appear cold or indifferent.
--There is a chance your written message will be misunderstood or misconstrued.
--You need an immediate response. E-mail may be the best way to deliver news fast, but it is not necessarily the best route to a quick reply.
--You want to conduct negotiations or hold a give-and-take conversation.
--You need to conduct a lengthy interview with a long list of questions that call for detailed answers.
--You seek an immediate response from someone who may not check e-mail regularly or who has a tendency to procrastinate.
--You want to involve a number of people in your discussion.
--You run the risk of intimidating or turning off the reader with a written message.
6. File and Archive Saved E-Mail
To save e-mail messages on your computer without cluttering your inbox, file or archive them. Simply sort mail by category and create files into which you can divert time-consuming mail, such as newsletters and listserv e-mail, for later review.
Review all documents in your folders periodically. To archive documents you no longer need on your computer, but aren't yet ready to delete, save them to diskette, then delete from your computer. Be sure to store the archive diskettes safely off-site if they are particularly valuable.
Don't forget to back up your document folders regularly. All the e-mail management in the world won't matter if you can't recover data in an emergency.
E-MAIL MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR EMPLOYERS
1. Establish and Enforce a Written E-Mail Policy
Help employees manage their e-mail by establishing clear guidelines governing the appropriate use of the organization's e-mail system. Put teeth in your e-mail policy by enforcing it consistently, regardless of the violator's rank or tenure. For help developing your organization's e-mail policy, visit www.epolicyinstitute.com.
2. Establish Clear Guidelines for Business and Personal E-Mail Use
Limit employees' personal use of the company e-mail system by establishing clear guidelines for business and personal use. Use your written e-mail policy to notify employees that the organization's e-mail system is provided for business use. If you permit personal use of the company system, be sure to spell out exactly what type and how much personal e-mail use is allowed.
A survey conducted by the American Management Association (AMA), US News & World Report, and The ePolicy Institute reveals that US employers handle personal e-mail in various ways:
--39% allow full and unrestricted personal use of office e-mail.
--24% ban all personal use of office e-mail.
--21% allow full personal use with prior management approval.
--7% permit personal use for emergencies only.
--4% allow communication only with spouse and children.
Employers who allow personal e-mail use place the following time restrictions on employees:
--10% allow personal use of the e-mail system only during non-business hours.
--7% set specific time duration limits.
--2% have time limits during business hours only.
3. Set E-Mail Rules for Your Team
Busy executives may want to set personal guidelines for work teams or staff to help manage e-mail flow. For example:
--Insist staff limit internal e-mail to three sentences. If you can't say it in three sentences, make a call or schedule a face-to-face meeting.
--Prohibit staff from sending e-mail to colleagues who are working next door, on the same floor or even in the same building.
--Don't allow staff to use e-mail to schedule lunch meetings or in-house gatherings with other team members.
4. Establish a Document Retention and Deletion Strategy.
According to the AMA, US News & World Report, ePolicy Institute Survey, half of the nation's largest employers lack a formal policy for naming, archiving, or purging electronic files. Critical to the effective management of e-mail is the establishment of a document retention and deletion policy that spells out for employees how to categorize files, where to store files, and when and how to destroy files. In the event of a workplace lawsuit, your document retention/deletion policy, governing the amount and type of documents sitting on computer workstations and in your system, will play a critical-and potentially costly-role. Because there is no one-size-fits-all retention/deletion policy that works for all organizations, employers should consult with a CyberLaw expert experienced with electronic document management.
5. Control What You Can Centrally
Assign limited e-mail space on your file server. Reduce mailbox size, and employees who tend to over-save mail will simply run out of room. Install software that allows your e-mail administrator to empty employees' delete folders automatically every 30 days-or whenever your CyberLaw expert recommends.
6. Install Content Management and Filtering Software
Reduce e-mail overload with filtering software designed to get the spam out of your system. Install content management software to ensure employees are complying with written e-mail policy and using your system appropriately and their time productively.
Finally, Remember to Maintain Your Perspective
With the advent of portable e-mail devices and e-mail pagers, it's tempting to become e-mail connected around the clock. Resist that temptation by establishing clear boundaries for e-communication. Set aside a specific amount of time each day for reading, relegating and responding to e-mail. Take care of business correspondence at work and save personal e-mail for home, or risk disciplinary action or termination for violating your organization's e-mail policy.
The ePolicy Institute is a leading source of e-mail and e-policy training
products and consulting services. Through its speakers' bureau, ePolicy
Institute experts speak and conduct seminars around the globe on topics
including E-Mail Management, Writing Effective E-Mail and E-Policy Development.
Visit The ePolicy Institute online at www.epolicyinstitute.com for comprehensive
results of the IAAP, WorldCom, ePolicy Institute Survey and the AMA,
US News & World Report, ePolicy Institute Survey.
©Copyright 2002, 2001, The ePolicy Institute. All content is the property
of The ePolicy Institute. Visitors may reprint or repost content for
non-commercial use only, provided the following citation is included:
2002, 2001 The ePolicy Institute, Executive Director Nancy Flynn,
e-mail experts@epolicyinstitute.com.
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