Researchers at London’s Kingston University have recognised seven email habits that cause ‘negative repercussions’ in the workplace if they are not properly taken care of.
According to the report, employees obsessed with reading through their emails could be damaging their own mental health, as well as their colleagues’.
The research cited some of the worst email practises that stress out employees including ping pong messages sent back and forth; e-mailing out of hours; e-mailing while in the company of other people; paying no attention to emails completely; seeking read receipts; instantly replying to an email alert and automated replies.
Kingston University occupational psychologist Dr Emma Russell said that back in the dial-up era, when going online had a cost implication, most people checked email maybe once a day and often responded as soon as they read them.
"Now, with broadband and 3G, unlimited numbers of messages can be streamed through smartphones at any time of the day or night.
However many of us haven’t adapted our behaviour," Russell said.
"This puts pressure on staff to be permanently on call and makes those they are dealing with feel the need to respond.
"Some workers became so obsessed by email that they even reported experiencing so-called phantom alerts where they think their phone has vibrated or bleeped with an incoming email when in fact it has not.
"Others said they felt they needed to physically hold their smartphone when they were not at their desk so that they were in constant email contact."
According to the study, replying to out of hours e-mails may make an employee look eager, while it could also signify employees finding it difficult to switch off.
Some of the e-mails lead to a problem for the sender rather than the receiver, as they would give away the wrong impression or not remain in control of what they were doing.
"This research reminds us that, even though we think we are using strategies for dealing with our email at work, many of them can be detrimental to other goals and the people we work with," Russell said.
