Research conducted by free e-mail provider GMX has found that 1 in 3 Britons who use e-mail at work regularly become upset or offended due to misunderstanding what a colleague has written.
The survey of almost 2000 UK workers found that the most common cause for confusion is misinterpretation: in the past year alone, 41% of workers have received an e-mail from a colleague that has used an offensive tone, intentionally or otherwise.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, taking offence at misunderstood e-mails appears (along with so much else ,,,) to decline with age:
- 52% of workers aged 25-34 have taken offence at e-mails, compared to
- 39% between 45-54 years of age
I'm a bit sceptical about the validity of statistics like this. Do 45-year-olds even read their e-mails?!
Best of all, and somewhat ridiculously, 71% of workers admitted to frequently becoming upset by having to wait for replies to their e-mails. Boo hoo!
Comments (1)
Posted by Charles williams | August 5, 2009 1:42 PM
"Do 45-year-olds even read their e-mails?!" says Work Clinic.
Yes they do. But this one won't bother reading the Work Clinic again. You can get away with writing almost anything if you have a talent for making it entertaining. Suggest you hire someone with that talent.
Posted on August 5, 2009 13:42