The cost of email interruption
| Published date | 01 June 2001 |
| Pages | 81-92 |
| Date | 01 June 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13287260180000760 |
| Author | Thomas Jackson,Ray Dawson,Darren Wilson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Journal of Systems & Information Technology 5(1) Special Edition
81
THE COST OF EMAIL INTERRUPTION
Thomas Jackson
Computer Science Department, Loughborough University,
Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK
Ray Dawson
Computer Science Department, Loughborough University,
Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK
Darren Wilson
The Danwood Group, Harrisson Place, Lincoln, UK
ABSTRACT
The use o f email by employees at the Danwood Group was stu died and it
was found that the interrupt effect from emails is more than generally believed.
Employees allowed themselves to be interrup ted almost as frequently as
telephone calls and the common reaction to the arrival of an email is to react
almost as quickly as they would respond to telep hone calls. This means the
interrupt effect is comparable with that of a telephone call. The recovery time
from an email interruption was found to be sign ificantly less than the published
recovery time for telephone calls. It is to be concluded, therefore, that while
Email is still less disruptive than the telephone , the way the majority of users
handle the ir incoming email has been shown to give far more interruption than
expected.
By analysing the data captured the authors have been able to c reate
recommendations for a set of guidelines for email usage within the workplace
that will increase e mployee efficiency by reducing the prominence of
interruptions, restricting the use of email-to-all messages, setting-up the em ail
application to displa y three lines of the email and to check for email less
frequently. It is recommended that trainin g should be given to staff on how to use
email more effectively to increase employee produ ctivity.
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