Reducing the effect of email interruptions on employees

  • Authors:

  • Thomas Jackson;Ray Dawson;Darren Wilson

  • Affiliations:

  • Computer Science Department, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK and The Danwood Group, Harrisson Place, Lincoln LN6 3DG, UK;Computer Science Department, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK;The Danwood Group, Harrisson Place, Lincoln LN6 3DG, UK

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

It is generally assumed that because it is not necessary to react to email messages when they arrive, employees will read their messages in their own time with minimum interruption to their work. This research has shown that email messages do have some disruptive effect by interrupting the user. Employees at the Danwood Group in the UK were monitored to see how they used email. It was found that most employees had their email software check for incoming messages every 5min and responded to the arrival of a message within 6s. A recovery time between finishing reading the email and returning to normal work also existed though it was shorter than published recovery times for a telephone interrupt. This analysis has suggested that a number of methods can be employed to reduce this interrupt effect. Employee training, changing the settings and modes of using the email software and the introduction of a one line email facility are all shown to have beneficial effects. This has led to a series of recommendations that will enable the Danwood Group to make better use of email communication and increase employee effectiveness.