Protect users from the stress of receiving e-mail

Technostress is a very common occupational illness. It affects people who frequently use new technologies in their jobs. Technostress manifests itself in many ways: headaches, mental fatigue, depression, anxiety, etc. E-mail reception is particularly singled out by specialists. Even if e-mail helps to boost productivity, the constant arrival of e-mails in the user’s inbox contributes to a lack of concentration on the part of the employee. The Ministry of Labor, in collaboration with the social partners, is currently looking into the detection and prevention of the effects of technostress in the workplace.

Time spent reading e-mails

Not counting spam and other junk mail not filtered by anti-spam software, almost 6 out of 10 users spend 20 minutes a week reading their e-mails, while 3 out of 10 spend an hour. Some employees check their inboxes more than 40 times a day, others once every hour or 15 minutes. According to the London Institute of Psychiatry, perpetual switching from one task to another can cause a person to lose 10 IQ points.

A few basic rules to avoid technostress

Setting priorities can make the employee’s work easier, and prevent him or her from juggling one task with another. First thing in the morning, he can start sorting incoming e-mails according to importance, then deal with the most urgent ones. To avoid needlessly wasting precious working hours, everyone needs to impose strict rules, limiting the amount of time to be spent on processing emails, for example. All subjects that can be discussed orally should be dealt with in this way. Dialogue will give a more human character and bring out more ideas.

Disorder is the worst enemy of employees. As filtered emails come in, they should be sorted into the appropriate folders: junk mail, personal emails, business emails, customer accounts, etc. On the other hand, every employee should take the time to log out of his or her mailbox on a regular basis. There’s no need to check your e-mail address every 5 minutes. An hour or two can be enough to get the answers you need from a correspondent. Specialists also recommend not mixing work and family life. Yet 6 out of 10 professionals continue to check and process their emails when they get home or during their vacations.

Sorting spam: a major problem for business

Inbox clutter is a major problem for company employees, and can lead to a significant loss of productivity and efficiency. With good anti-spam and anti-virus software, the user’s inbox will be safe. Blocking unsolicited mail with filters saves precious time.