Internal emails are suffocating staff, research claims

Sending the wrong message: Concentra's research claims employees are getting frustrated with the amount of time wasted on internal emails

Employees are spending an average of six hours a week reading and sending internal emails, according to research from consultancy firm Concentra.

This adds up to 41 working days, or just over eight weeks a year.

Concentra claimed that 33 per cent of employees questioned admitted they send six hours or more drafting and reading internal emails every week. A further 28 per cent said they take between three and five hours a week to keep on top of internal mail.

Goetz Boue, director at Concentra, said: “Internal communications are a vital part of running a successful business, but organisations clearly aren’t getting the value they should from these processes.

“There are so many communication channels available today, such as social media channel linked to intranets and portals, that there is an excuse for relying on mass email. The alternatives provide a wealth of opportunity for effective, efficient communication."

Additionally, the research revealed that email is still the communications channel of choice for 85 per cent of senior managers, and 88 per cent of HR teams. This is despite 50 per cent of respondents believing that less than half the internal emails they receive are actually useful.

“For a long time, email has been seen as a necessary evil,” Boue added. “But the amount of time and energy wasted on it proves that it has gone too far. The volume of mail sent and received has to be cut down, and our dependence on the ‘cc’ culture of mass emailing has to stop.”