Did you know that the average worker spends 28% of their working week on email?
More than 11 hours a week.
You could fly from London to LA in that time!
Imagine what more you could achieve with your time if all the unnecessary emails were removed from your inbox. The spam, the sales messages, the gossip and worst of all the unnecessary comms you're Cc'd or Bcc'd into.
Here's a mini task:
1) Count how many emails did you get in the last week where you were Cc'd or Bcc'd? How many in the last 24-hours? In your opinion how many of those did you actually need to see?
2) Now, be honest in the last week how many times did YOU use the Cc or Bcc functions? How many times in the last 24-hours? Now ask yourself how many of those times were really, truly needed, are you wasting your colleagues time?
Go on check your emails. Are you surprised by the results or not?
It's no surprise that according to Forbes using Cc and Bcc wastes time, a lot of time.
Forbes state that on average, office workers receive at least 200 email messages a day. And they spend about two-and-a-half hours reading and replying to emails a day. More worryingly Forbes research showed that on average 144 out of the 200 emails an office worker receives each day are irrelevant to them. That's 72%! Nearly three-quarters of email communications sent to an average worker are not needed, scary eh?
WHY IS IT USED SO MUCH?
I imagine it often feels like everyone's copying you into every email going around the business. Misusing Cc and Bcc is a great way to annoy your workmates. But there are many reasons why people do it. Here are a few that you may be familiar with...
Many replace a simple 'For your Information' note with constant Cc messages. They may think they're just keeping you in the loop because they want you to know what's going on. Despite good intentions, this is not the best way to keep your co-workers informed.
Yes, it’s easy and quick to add a Cc to any email, which makes you feel like you’re doing something productive.
But, time management expert Maura Thomas states that Cc can ultimately end up being a productivity drain in several ways:
The message was not primarily addressed to them, your Cc’d recipient might not read it at all. That can lead to confusion and miscommunication. And it adds to the email clutter weighing on your recipient.
If they do read it, trying to understand why you included them takes time out of their day.
There’s no guarantee that they’ll come away with what you wanted to convey.
She advises that the best way to convey a message and to get a response is to reach out directly instead of using Cc. It's a sign of respect toward others. It also helps managers maintain their focus by communicating more clearly. Instead of Cc’ing someone, cut and paste the information you want to share from your original email.
The bad manager demonstrates a lack of trust in their employees if they insist on being Cc'd into all emails sent by direct reports. This is poor micromanagement. It stops the employees from working effectively as they're always waiting for management approval. You employed this person, you should trust them with basic communication. If you don't then there's a deeper issue to address.
The passive-aggressive Cc communication will get the back up of many colleagues. This will often be where an initial email has been sent but not acted on. The sender then sends a nudge, but this time including a more senior figure. This potentially embarrasses the recipient into prioritising the initial request over other things that may be more important. It does not help relationship building. If something's urgent then a clear time frame should be agreed on or face-to-face or telephone conversations would provide a better result than this poor etiquette.
An extension of the passive-aggressive is the tattletale Cc. This shows that telling the teacher didn't stop in primary school. Does your co-worker not trust you to resolve the issue without your boss knowing about it? Is the presence of your boss in the Cc field intended to imply you’ve been negligent on the matter in the past? Why is your manager being dragged into what should be a routine interaction handled between two colleagues?
Employees who Cc their recipients’ managers because they think it will get their message taken more seriously or handled more quickly often end up being perceived as saying, “I don’t trust you to take care of this on your own unless you know your manager is watching.” Once someone has added your manager to an email chain, it’s difficult to remove them without leaving the impression that you’re being unresponsive to the original message.
Another reason people use Cc is to expand a conversation. This can go against basic email etiquette and as above cause confusion as to why you're being included in a conversation without and explanation.
Often this message will simply read "See below" with an expectation that the recipient must stop what they're doing. They must then read through what could be a long comms trail to try to pick out a single element that the sender wants from them. A face-to-face communication, phone call or direct email would produce a more efficient response in this instance and more respect from the recipient.
Passing the buck or covering themselves is another trap people fall into. This will be where they have responsibility for a task but Cc various colleagues into an enquiry a decision. In the senders head they are not responsible for a decision they have passed it on and if they don't get a reply they can say "well I sent you an email" or "I waiting for Ms X to tell me what to do". This is hiding behind an email and can delay a project if the recipients aren't clearly aware of what is being asked of them, again direct communication would solve this.
The 'I'm working late' Cc is always quite interesting to receive. This will be when a colleague is working on something out of hours and wants as many people to know that they're putting in extra hours so they will Cc more people than necessary to elicit a response from colleagues about their work status.
THE IMPACT ON YOU
In researching this piece I found this amazing, and worrying tool from Frontapp.com I couldn't resist using it. This tool shows the impact on your time of emails received (best viewed on desktop):
THE COST
Business owners and Directors should understand the impact of the overuse of the Cc and heavy email traffic. Here's a simple formula to work out the costs to a business of email clutter, from CEO World:
Multiply an employee salary by 1.4 to account for benefits. So, £36,000 (average annual UK salary)
× 1.4 (benefits estimate) = £50,400 (total annual cost of employee).
Multiply the total employee cost by the percentage of time spent on email.
Remember from above that 28% of the average worker’s time is spent on email.
So, £50,400 × 28%
-£14,112 = the total cost of wasted email time for one employee
-£141,120 = the total cost of wasted email time for ten employees
-£1,411,200 = the total cost of wasted email time for one-hundred employees
You can figure out the impact of your own time lost to unnecessary email by just replacing the average salary listed with your own, surprised?
THE SOLUTION
We all need uninterrupted periods of time to accomplish tasks that require deep thought or concentration. But workplaces are full of distractions it can be hard to find time to really focus.
On average, we check our emails 15 times a day. We need to break this habit. Emails do not need an immediate response. If something is urgent you will be called or spoken to directly.
Here are seven tips to try to halt the Cc blight and give yourself some headspace to think away from your inbox:
1) Schedule time in your diary to check and deal with emails just two to three a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon and one other if you feel necessary.
Choose a time convenient for you. Be strict with yourself and only use these times to read and reply to messages.
2) Turn off email notifications, even on your phone as they will panic you into acting. If you need to, add to your signature that you will be available by phone if something is urgent.
3) Identify and stop clutter by limiting email distribution lists to only those who 'need to know'. Stop using email for tasks better handled by other software programs like Basecamp and Asana and project management software.
4) Train your teams to write better emails. Share this knowledge, encourage the breaking of the habit. Avoid “So what?” emails. Write clear and simple messages so recipients know what they are about and what, if anything, is expected of them. Unclear action leads to another round of email exchanges, more Ccing and more wasted time.
5) Cut the fluff. Shorter and more direct emails lead to time saved and improved efficiency.
5) Keep a tidy inbox to avoid feeling overwhelmed. My old CEO Phil Riley at Orion Media insisted that an inbox should contain no more than 10 emails at any one time. Things can be filed away and diarised to be looked at to keep a clear head and maintain focus.
6) Be clear about response times for replies to avoid the passive-aggressive Cc messages.
7) Don't contribute to the problem. Message directly or talk to people. On the whole, people are nice, say hello, you might achieve more. Think before hitting reply-all and adding to the clutter of multiple inboxes.
In the 1990's it was predicted that email would improve worker productivity by 20–25%. One can assume that this statistic did not expect workers to have to cut through so much noise in an average day just to get their job done. Email is a really useful tool, just please stop abusing it.
With a few simple tweaks, you can improve things for yourself, your team and your business.
Good luck!
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