Wasting time on e-mail

February 23, 2001

E-mail — a modern convenience that was supposed to save us countless minutes in our daily work lives. But something happened along the way to efficiency.

A new survey shows that executives are spending even longer hours at the office trying to answer all the e-mails that flood their inboxes throughout the day.

In the poll by Accountemps, a temporary staffing company, executives said they spend an average of 108 minutes daily reading and sending e-mail messages. The survey, which was conducted by an independent research firm, included responses from 150 executives with the nation's 1,000 largest companies.

Avoid falling into the e-mail time trap. Use this device as it was originally intended -- to deliver information quickly. Set up lunch dates and meetings via e-mail, send those press releases and announcements electronically. But, sometimes, the good old telephone is just plain quicker.