Art of Effective Email Combats Email Overwhelm

Email Now Considered the Primary Cause of Stress in the Workplace

Email is now considered the primary cause of stress in the workplace. The America Management Association recently found employees spend an average 2.1 hours a day dealing with email and 10% spend more than four hours a day. DoubleClicks’s 2005 email study found the 32% of individuals report constantly checking their email. Email fuels stress – Seven out of ten managers find dealing with email stressful according to the Australian Psychological Society.

Like many Canadians, Wendy Alexander, a director at the City of Mississauga was spending 3 to 4 hours a day dealing with email. Since taking the program, she now spends less than 45 minutes on email. She also reports being more in control of her day and having a healthier relationship with technology.

The Art of Effective Email assists people to confront their chaotic and reactive email work habits and design their own proactive system and relationship with email. The program is an interactive inquiry in which managers and information workers tell the truth about their bad email habits and look at strategies to regain control of their email. In the half-day session and ongoing coaching, people design their personal email plan, manage realistic expectations with co-workers and build a healthier relationship with technology.

Just say no, to email addition. In a recent Symantec survey of emails users in Europe, 74% said they think email is additive and 21% admitted to being email dependent – compulsively checking their email and panicking when the can’t. Constant email users suffered a 10 point drop in IQ scores, more than twice the fall recorded by marijuana users, in a clinical trial of over a thousand participants by HP and the University of London. They found email addicts developed an inability to distinguish between trivial and important messages. 20% consistently jeopardized important relationships by “checking their messages” in the middle of a conversation. The word “Crackberry” can now be found in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.

“Email overload is the hot button organizational development issue in business right now,” says Paul Gossen, the program founder. “Unless individuals tell the truth about their email habits and work as a team to make agreements about how to use email, most email reduction initiatives amount to a set of rules. It is akin to giving someone 5 tips for quitting smoking, sincere but ineffective.”

The Art of Effective Email Program is targeted towards executives, managers and information workers and builds an effective foundation for a powerful shift in the email culture of an organization.

The Athena Alliance partner offers programs in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and has conducted large-scale corporate programs for the RCMP, Amex Canada and the City of Mississauga. In house programs have also been conducted for dozens of other companies.