Stress and sackings mean employees should beware of the email

Emails are more dangerous than you might think – one in 20 staff have been reprimanded or sacked for sending ill-advised ones, while more than half experience increased stress levels as a result of checking them on holiday.
 

According to the Press Association, a study among 2,000 UK workers, one in five respondents said that they had sent an inappropriate email in the heat of the moment.
 
Nearly a third admitted that they had accidentally hit ‘reply all’ rather than ‘reply’ at some point, while more than one in 10 had mistakenly sent an email criticising a colleague to the person about whom they were complaining. The research indicated that men were more likely to make an email blooper than women, however, with 28% having sent an ill-judged message compared with 17% of women.
 
A second survey undertaken among 1,000 office workers in London by security software provider Credant Technologies, meanwhile, revealed that almost two thirds of workers taking a summer break would remain in contact with the office, check emails and text colleagues to ensure that everything was on track during their absence.
 
Darren Shimkus, worldwide senior vice president of marketing at Credant, said: “We seem to have changed to a global population of workaholics. Only 35% of our respondents have no contact whatsoever with work during their holiday, which puts them firmly in the minority.”
 
Nearly half of those questioned checked their emails at least once a day, with 57% blaming the current economic climate for the situation and 39% feeling that their boss expected them to be contactable.
 
But 54% said that they felt more stressed when checking email while on holiday compared with 46% who said that it made them feel more in control and thus more able to relax.