WASHINGTON — How many times a day do you check your email? You may think it’s not a big deal to continually check during your busy day, but research shows it contributes to many problems, such as mental and physical burnout and lost productivity at work. It costs corporations 28 billion wasted work hours per year.
The researchers found that constantly returning emails during your business day is now called “workplace telepressure.” This new telepressure is a major cause of work stress and is a major health hazard. Employees felt chronically fatigued, struggled with insomnia and experienced burnout.
When you effectively manage your email, you manage your mental and physical health and your productivity.
To mindfully manage your email:
- Disconnect from your inbox. Turn off your email alert sounds. This allows you to control when you check email, instead of letting them demand your attention.
- Manage expectations. Let your coworkers, managers and clients know you’re managing your emails in such a way as to make you more productive. Tell them you check your email every two hours, but if there is an urgent need they can text or call you for an immediate response.
- Create response times. Choose times during your day that work with your business to check your email.
- Priority sorting. Select the emails that require a timely response and put others in appropriate files for later.
- Quick response. Respond to your emails with a few lines to be timely and respectful. You may respond, “I’ll get back to you,” or, “This is important so let’s get together about this later.”
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