Hands up if you checked your work email more than five times today. If you have you are certainly not alone. 77% of people surveyed admitted to checking their email “obsessively”.

We are still a nation of people who compulsively check their inbox – in fact shocking statistics by leading email researcher Dr Thomas Jackson proved that 70% of emails are attended to within 6 seconds of their arrival.

6 seconds!

We would let a screaming child cry for longer without checking, but we feel compelled to check – and respond to – our emails as soon as we receive them.

Is it because technology has advanced to such an extent that we are constantly connected to sources of distraction – such as email?

Email provides distraction – from work, from life’s other challenges or from making difficult choices.

But we cannot blame technology – the cause for this obsession is human behaviour – and the solution is behavioural too

Email training – by changing human behaviour around email you can help your colleagues become more productive and less obsessed.

The need to streamline all patient records to comply with the health secretary’s pledge to have a “paperless NHS” operating by 2018 means that there will be an impact on the way email is used within the NHS.

So now would seem like a good time for an analysis of the attitudes and approaches to email management within your Trust.

While each NHS Trust has its own specific issues to do with information management,  email accounts for many of them with symptoms being:  overloaded inboxes, poor communication, constant replies to all and networks running slowly struggling to cope with the sheer volume of data.

This is not just confined to Non Clinical Staff – Clinical staff need to manage huge amounts of data too ( including emails.)

Recently Emailogic have helped email users in NHS Trusts achieve the following changes to their email management:

Irrelevant emails reduced by -62.5%

Inboxes were cut by a staggering -71.6%.

Feedback from NHS Staff proved that the training worked and had long lasting positive effects for the whole team:

“Go on this course and make sure that everyone you work with not only goes on it but acts on its advice!”

“The information given is common sense but it takes a training session to actually make you think and act accordingly.”

The majority of business communication happens over email – and the law sector is no exception. Statistics have consistently proved that email volumes are set to increase and the prevalence of social media shows no signs of reversing this trend.

Sites like Twitter and LinkedIn are now first choice channels of communication for Business Development teams and if your firm is not following this trend then it will be soon.

But social media creates even more email and as such are not always a straight forward alternative.

The results Emailogic have achieved with law firms are consistently higher than our average.

Results show an average time saving of more than 45 minutes per person per day – which equates to a staggering 25 days per year saved – some of which can be billed.

Other results which stand out are:

- reduction times email accessed per day by -54%

- inboxes size cut by -34%.

Feedback from lawyers who attend email management training:

“Of all the courses I have attended on working procedures this one has had the most beneficial effect on my behaviour and working day, relieving some of the stress caused by email”.

Another delegate put it more bluntly: “Everyone in the world should do this training”

All Government organisations, agencies and departments have been affected by budget cuts and major restructuring.

This has had an impact on the staff who are left behind – both morale and productivity have suffered.

Often, during times of flux and uncertainty staff are asked to do more, with fewer resources and in less time.

Two activities which take up the majority of senior time in government organisations are email and meetings -  doing these as successfully as possible is key to ensuring continuity of service to the public.

Emailogic have extensive experience working in the public sector and have improved productivity in over 100 government organisations.

Our productivity masterclass sessions tackle both email and meetings – after attending staff will save time and achieve significantly improved outcomes.

Click here for details of how Emailogic can empower your staff to achieve more – with less.

With more being expected from all teaching and non teaching staff, schools and colleges need to focus on becoming more business like in their approach to staff training.

This commercial approach extends to all aspects of training and productivity – with email playing a crucial part.

All education professionals have to deal with email overload – from heads of department and senior management teams to non academic and support staff – and the need to tackle this issue is something that many Schools, Colleges and Universities are facing this year.

Emailogic have worked alongside many Colleges and Universities to improve email management with great success.

Recent results achieved at a College saw:

-           a reduction in inbox size of a staggering 92.4%!

-          a valuable 34 minutes saved per person per day

-          emails sent down by 32.5%

The IT department of the College involved was thrilled, the internal servers felt the benefits and staff were more productive.

Emailogic are pleased to offer their award winning email training as part of a INSET day and special rates are available.

Click here for more details.

New year is traditionally a time for giving things up such as cigarettes or alcohol – well what about emails?

One of the most startling things that always comes across to us when we ask people to describe their “relationship” with email is the amount of addictive language which is used.

Words like overwhelmed, reliant, obsessed, dependant are commonplace.

Now imagine if these words were describing that person’s relationship with drugs or alcohol – this puts the way that people feel about email into perspective.

Imagine how good it feels to break free from this type of addiction – and how much better it would feel if everyone around you did too.

No cigarettes – cleaner air, improved health

Less email – clearer communication, more time

Email is an issue that people feel passionately about – and rightly so. Email is responsible for millions of wasted and unproductive man hours.

Being in control of email, having extra time to do more, complete more projects, engage with clients or colleagues more is so easily achievable.

For every single person who attends email training this feeling is a reality.

But if the entire workforce were also less stressed and more productive, everyone would feel the benefit.

Imagine that.

The issues surrounding work related email continue as email traffic reaches truly astonishing proportions.

Global email traffic is set to rise at a rate of 13% every year. Business related emails alone will reach 143 billion by 2016.

With this outlook in mind it is imperative that every corporate email users take responsibility for the emails they generate.

Respondents to a recent work related email perception study identified their top 5 issues as:
1) Excessive back-and-forth replies
2) Using email when a meeting/phone call is more appropriate
3) Unnecessary use of “reply all”
4) Poorly written emails that lack clarity
5) Copying others unnecessarily

Emailogic email training tackles all of the above behaviours and impacts email volume

Read some of the quotes received from users who have attended Emailogic email management training this year:

“I can identify my colleagues who have undergone Emailogic training by their emails (or lack of them) – as if they are wearing a badge.”

“I now spend less time managing my emails and more time doing my job.”

What are you doing in your organisation to prevent email volume growing by an unlucky 13% in 2013?

Recent research once again highlights that email overload has a negative impact on workers

The constant stream of information – especially via email – can lead to feelings of stress, exhaustion and overload.

Emailogic research conducted with members of a Police Constabulary command team and their PA’s showed that after attending email management training there was a reduction in the time staff spent handling email every day per person of 42 minutes.

Other benefits included:
Irrelevant emails received -36.5%
Size of inboxes -26.2%
Number of times checking email per day -36.7%

Comments included:
“This training has taught me to be more efficient and effective and has improved my stress levels.”
“I understand better now that I have control of my emails… they don’t control me!”
“Feel less driven and controlled by emails.”

29 staff attended the training – the time saving of 42 minutes per person will equate to a gain of £72,500 worth of time over the forthcoming year

Consider investing in Email management training in 2013 -  and reap the benefits.

As you plan your training spend in 2013 why not consider offering your more senior staff an award winning email productivity session which is guaranteed to save them at least 17 days each year.

What could they produce with that extra time?

Recent research by Emailogic shows that following email training Directors and Senior Managers of organisations such as Penningtons, John Lewis and Molson Coors are now saving 1 hour every day on the time they spend reading, writing and managing their email – in some cases up to 90 minutes.

This could be the equivalent of £56 billion worth of UK directors’ time per year.

Who would think that something as something simple as email is a source for such a huge and demonstrable gain in senior managers’ productivity?

Email etiquette training is only a 90 minute investment costing £49 + VAT per person – or less.

You can calculate how much the time your organisation could save by using the Emailogic calculator.

Then consider offering your more senior managers this award winning training at one of their meetings in 2013.

It will be the most profitable and productive training initiative you deliver next year.

A recent study by The University of California revealed that staff who constantly checked their email changed screens twice as often and went into a high alert state of mind.

Not only that but when they took a break from email they were more focussed and more relaxed – making them more productive as a result.

While email has revolutionised the way we communicate in business it has become the default method of communication. Email etiquette training re-trains us to use email more responsibly.

This is important as so often the way we interact with others defines us and improves our wellbeing. Email can causes high levels of stress if staff are not trained how to deal with it effectively.

It is too easy send emails almost by default yet take no responsibility for the impact email overload has on others.

Consider email etiquette training as occupational health training…and take a break from your screen.