August 20 2024 Kimberly Ryan Limited Articles

Email Management & Workplace Productivity

We all wish we could spend less time attending to emails especially when it relates to a never-ending task that prevents us from addressing more important work. Reading and responding to emails can become a herculean task.

According to a study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute, managing our emails accounts for 28% of an average weekday. For a 40-hour week, this accounts for 11 hours 12 minutes, that is 11 hours 12 minutes that could have gone into actual work.

Email is the most frequently used form of communication in the workplace. One of the most common challenges we face in the workplace is balancing the need to get more done in less time. We are an overwhelmed bunch; always so much to do. However, we can benefit from some extra time or at least more productive hours by managing the time at our disposal. Figuring out the best method of managing your time towards increasing your productivity can pose a great challenge. A good place to start is email management, this tops the list of time-killers in the workplace. Productivity can take a drastic hit if emails are not properly managed.

Email is an ongoing form of communication and we don’t seem to have complete control over the inflow. Hence, our focus should be on increasing our productivity by managing our emails better.

Below are tips that will help in creating a method of managing your emails in a way that improves productivity instead of eating away at it;

  • Separate your email address: In an ideal situation, it is necessary to have one email address for work and another for your personal life. Refrain from giving your work email address to friends or relatives and the same goes for giving your personal email address to co-workers. Ensure you handle personal emails in your own time and if possible only handle work-related emails at work.

  • Organize your email by turning off notifications: Email notification is one of the silent killers of workplace productivity. It interrupts you when you are busy doing real work. It could cost you your attention and the time getting back to the task after the disruption. It is necessary to come to the understanding that some emails are urgent while others aren’t worth the distraction.

  • Devote set times to handle emails and focus only on that: Emails tend to come in at all times of the day. It is vital that you take control of the flow of emails that fit into your day. Although a completely empty inbox is unrealistic, keeping our inbox clear can make us more organized and help eliminate lack of productivity

  • Set up a filing system to help manage your emails. You could use broad categories titled “Action Time,” “Waiting,” “Reference,” and “Archives”.

  • Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails.

  • Eliminate back and forth conversations.

  • Stem down on unnecessary responses: not all mails require a reply and if it require one, write the shortest possible reply that is short, concise and clear.

  • Delegate: Delegate email management to account managers if you have a team of staff.

Checking your emails regularly during the day can be an effective way to keep your inbox at manageable levels. However, the constant interruption and distraction that comes from multitasking can lower your productivity. While technology is a great benefit for the modern company, aspects of it can reduce productivity. Email has been identified as one of the most significant concerns of time management.

Email is necessary, when used properly it can be a huge asset for an organization. Take a step backward to think about how much an organization will struggle without email. It is efficient. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where you can have too much of a good thing.

At Kimberly Ryan, we are not against the use of emails in the workplace. While it can be a tremendous tool for efficiency, it can also be a huge time sucker and an impediment to efficiency. During our trainings and team bonding sessions we advocate the 4DF principle; DO it if it is actionable, DEFER it by doing it later, DELEGATE by forwarding it to someone who will attend to it better than you would have done, DELETE if you do not need it, FILE it by adding it to your archive for future reference. Email does not only interfere with work-life balance but it also has a negative impact on productivity. You may consider sharing this article via email, wouldn’t you consider using your social media handle?

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