“Staff who ping those “humorous” emails around the office with funny attachments are not just distinctly irritating, they are also a significant drain on a company’s productivity and can even put the whole business at risk.”

I found this interesting article by Nic Paton on the Management Issues site. The post references a study conducted by Queen’s University in Belfast:

“British workers are particularly guilty when it comes to wasting time gossiping by email while at work, with around a third of both men and women, some 40 per cent in total, whiling away at least part of their day in this way.”

This is a widespread and growing concern not limited to UK workers. Besides the obvious loss in worker productivity, the load on the email infrastructure caused by this unsanctioned chatter is in some cases as much as twenty percent. Companies could often delay or avoid costly system upgrades by implementing stricter policies that prohibit the excessive personal use of corporate email.

Technorati Tags: cost of email, productivity loss, risk management

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