More than a third of internal business e-mail is unnecessary, according to a
report. The survey by technology analyst Gartner also claims that employees
spent an average of 49 minutes per day managing their e-mails. Nearly a quarter
spend over an hour a day.
Maurene Caplan Grey, Gartner senior research analyst, said too many staff
are under the misapprehension that e-mail improves internal communication.
She said, "Employees are mailing their co-workers in higher frequencies
in an effort to be helpful and more communicative. In reality, they are
cluttering e-mail boxes, filling up servers and sapping productivity with the
volume of these messages.
"In a slowing economy, where businesses are looking for ways to cut
costs and increase productivity, simply cutting out unnecessary e-mails will
have an immediate impact."
Garnter research director Neil MacDonald claimed that employers need to
change office practices, reducing e-mail usage.
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"If a company does this it will experience a 30 per cent saving in the
time its workers spend managing e-mail."
