Business email can seriously damage your health

Recent research from Kingston Business School has identified seven ‘deadly sins’ of business email that can damage your mental health.

Occupational psychologist Dr Emma Russell carried out research on 28 employees across different organisations. Her report identified the following habits as causes of high employee stress:

1. Ping pong – constant emails back and forth  creating long chains
2. Emailing out of hours
3. Emailing while in the company of other people
4. Ignoring emails completely
5. Requesting read receipts
6. Responding immediately to an email alert
7. Automated replies.

“This research reminds us that, even though we think we are using strategies for dealing with our email at work, many of them can be detrimental to other goals and the people we work with,” said Dr Russell.

The report was presented at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference. Read the full article here.

Some of these practices damage the sender, others the receiver. What is interesting is that it is not just a matter of email etiquette – these bad habits really do have an impact on our stress levels. We can unwittingly harm ourselves and our colleagues.

Do you recognise any (or indeed all) of these practices in your workplace? If so, try forwarding the article to your colleagues – a little awareness of  how not to abuse business email can make a big difference!

Bye for now

Jakki