A recent survey by Gartner Group found that up to one-third of internal business e-mail was unnecessary. Other findings included
Gartner says that e-mail’s success is also its biggest weakness. Trying to be helpful and communicative, employees unnecessarily e-mail their co-workers too often. They clutter up servers and sap productivity with the volume of these messages. Gartner calls this friendly-fire e-mail ‘occupational spam.’ “It is deceptive because it looks legitimate, but there is no intelligent filter that will screen it for relevance.
Although 70% of enterprises have an e-mail policy, fewer than 40% have developed productivity best practices. Fewer than 5% have formalised them. Ridding an enterprise of occupational spam alone can save 30% of the time employees spend managing e-mail.
Gartner recommends developing an e-mail productivity programme that formalises e-mail etiquette guidelines:
