Top struggles with emails - like losing important emails to 'Spam' folder

13 October 2023 , 12:31

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Nearly half have lost important emails to 'Spam' or 'Junk' folders (Image: Sean Gladwell/Getty Images)

Small business employees have shared their top frustrations when it comes to using email at work – with nearly half (48%) citing that important emails can be lost to their “Spam” or “Junk” folders, research has found.

Others struggle with the fact that it is easy to misconstrue the tone of an email (55%), or that their inbox can quickly become clogged with emails that are not relevant to them (44%).

And one in five have been left frustrated that they are not able to remove themselves from email chains, while 24% feel it simply takes too long to get a reply or response to an email.

As such, over a quarter (27%), of the 4,000 workers polled, from small businesses across the UK, feel that email is an “outdated” form of communication – and 22% feel their productivity at work would increase if their company relied less on email.

The research, commissioned by Slack, also found that the average employee spends eight hours and 42 minutes each week, drafting an average of 99 emails.

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But they reckon that these are fully read and understood by their recipients less than half of the time (42%) – which is backed up by the fact that four in ten won't bother reading an email longer than eight sentences, as this is deemed “too long”.

And those polled delete or don’t read an email, based solely on the subject line, an average of six times per day – leaving 31% missing something important.

Over a quarter of workers feel email is an “outdated” form of communication (SWNS)

Deirdre Byrne, head of Slack UK and Ireland, said: “Email is the cockroach of the internet – it simply won’t die. Yet when it comes to business communication, the research reveals this 50-year-old tech isn’t fit for purpose.

“Employees at small businesses are losing a working day each week to drafting emails – which often go unread – at the expense of productive work.

“It’s up to leaders to embrace technology that helps streamline communication and knowledge sharing, accelerates work with AI and automation, and which keeps everyone engaged and focused on more meaningful and impactful work.

“Email may never fully go away, but if we can get beyond the tyranny of the inbox, we can make a massive difference to work today.”

The study also found others not fully digesting an email has left 68% feeling that their questions haven’t been answered, and 46% with a query they have already responded to, while almost half (46%) have even been addressed by the wrong name at the start of an email.

And 35% struggle with the expectation to stay “formal” in an email – with Gen Z (45%) and millennials (38%) most likely to feel this way, compared to just 28% of Gen X, and 22% of Baby Boomers.

As a result, younger respondents are most likely to feel that emails are not worth it (30% of Gen Z, and 24% of millennials) compared to older generations (17% of Gen X, and 12% of Baby Boomers).

However, nearly six in ten (57%) feel their company relies on email because it’s the way things have always been done, along with being inexpensive (57%), and because everyone else seems to use it (47%).

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And more than a fifth say they would be more productive at work if their company relied less on emails (SWNS)

But four in ten feel bogged down at work because of menial tasks like sending emails – with Gen Z most likely to feel this way (52%).

Filtering irrelevant emails (49%), responding to emails (35%), and finding internal information they need for their role (23%), also make it harder to succeed in their role.

As a result, the research, carried out via OnePoll, found 29% believe AI tools will increase their productivity – with just 10% believing it would have a negative effect.

Replacing manual and repetitive tasks was seen as the top appeal for AI (51%), followed by receiving immediate answers (41%), and freeing up focus time for other tasks (41%).

Ali Rayl, SVP Product Management at Slack, added: “The structure of work today is profoundly different from what jobs looked like in the past.

“We now have productivity platforms and job-specific tools at our fingertips, to help us make the most of our time and talents.

“When we integrate our workplace – the way we communicate, and the tools we use to get work done, which increasingly includes AI – we foster deeper connection, quicker communication, greater clarity through shared context, and overall, we waste less time.

“Information can’t fall through the cracks when there’s one single place where everyone in a company can go to find information.”

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES WITH EMAIL:

1. It's easy to misconstrue tones (55%)
2. Important emails can go to Spam or Junk (48%)
3. My inbox is easily clogged by emails that aren't relevant to me (44%)
4. There's an expectation to stay “formal” (35%)
5. I can't find the right information because it is buried in an email thread (30%)
6. I haven't been cc'd on emails or into thread containing key information (25%)
7. It takes too long to get a reply/response (24%)
8. I'm not able to remove myself from email chains (20%)

Andrew Young