E-mail costs business millions a year

Published on Thursday 3 January 2008 09:28

E-MAIL overload is costing companies an average of £3000 a year per employee in lost productivity, according to new research by a Lothians company.

The average e-mail user spends 25 per cent of their time checking and responding to e-mail – and up to half of that time is wasted.

And on average an employee spends 40 minutes at the start of every day managing their e-mail accounts before getting down to business.

Now Seton Notes, the East Lothian-based provider of personal effectiveness programmes that carried out the research, is attempting to take advantage of the time-wasting attributes of e-mail by running a series of "e-mail maestro" workshops to improve the way people deal with the medium.

Sally Turnham, director of Seton Notes, said: "On average e-mail users spend 25 per cent of their time dealing with e-mails. We have uncovered that fifty per cent of that time is wasted.

"If we can eliminate that waste then for an employee earning 24,000 per annum, there's a 3000 yearly saving up for grabs."

The company has been working with firms that rely on significant e-mail usage for the last 18 months in order to research the disadvantages of the medium – and how to overcome them.

Its research showed that managing e-mail takes up a quarter of the average day – meaning for someone on a UK average salary of 24,000 the cost value is 6000.

As half of that time is wasted, the company says that for a firm employing 1000 people, junk e-mail and personal messages can cost up to 3 million.

It also found that, while 80 per cent of firms have implemented written e-mail policies, 80 per cent of those firms fail to comply with them.

More than a fifth of firms have terminated the contract of an employee for abuse or misuse of their e-mail, while 14 per cent of firms have had to produce e-mails for legal purposes.

The Email Maestro is a three-hour programme where participants focus on how they can make practical changes to their routine to save time.

It also focuses on ways that the Microsoft Outlook e-mail programme can be used to greater effect as an office tool.

Some of Edinburgh's top law firms, including McGrigors and Tods Murray, have already taken the course following problems with e-mail usage within their business. The course has also been praised by NHS Fife and the Mental Welfare Commission.

"It's not rocket science, but nor is it revolutionary to point out that anyone can be better at a new skill or discipline if they have proper training," said Ms Turnham.

"Without that they're at the mercy of whatever bad habits their environment has developed.

"We offer cultural change to deal with simple issues such as eliminating internal spam and getting everyone committed to disciplines that save time and money."