During the pandemic, many companies became wholly dependent on digital communication to survive. But what is the legacy of this shift towards digital communication? How much time does the average American spend on email admin per day, and how burnt out are they from digital communications? According to a survey from EmailTooltester of 1,125 American workers, the answer is two hours and 45 minutes per day.
Taking an average of all respondents who the average person receives 32 emails per day. At the two ends of the spectrum, one in 10 people receive (14.3%) upwards of 50 emails a day at work, and two in 10 people receive less than 10 emails a day (17.3%).
When we asked people to estimate how many unread emails they had in their work inbox, the average answer was 30–with 12% admitting to having more than 50 unaddressed emails.
But increasingly, emails aren’t the only digital communication tool used by employees. When asked how long they spend per day communicating across all digital platforms (like Slack or Teams) the average answer was two hours and 45 minutes.
Although this was the mean average response, half (51.9%) of respondents spent three hours or more per day digitally communicating with colleagues, with one in 10 people (12.7%) spending five hours or more on digital work communications every day.
When asked whether people have dreaded opening their email inbox at work, nearly all (78.7%) said that they had. A majority, 58.5% of all respondents, said that they regularly dread opening their email inboxes.
It was unsurprising then that a similar amount (80.8%) have felt anxious about email correspondence at work—and more than half of people regularly feel anxious (58.3%) about email correspondence at work. Outcomes of this anxiety include triple-checking emails, and three-quarters (76.2%) say that their anxiety is compounded by the struggle to read someone’s tone via email or work messaging software.
And this anxiety doesn’t just affect the workday. Two-thirds of people (67%) admitted to losing sleep over a work email or emails. There was a clear correlation between seniority and sleep loss over email comms: 63.2% of entry-level employees had lost sleep over an email, rising to eight in ten business owners and CEOs (81.1%).
It’s not just work that is filled with digital communication. Catching up with friends and family remotely via phone or messages and responding to private emails also requires daily effort.
On average, respondents said they spent around two and a half hours at work on email admin, and when asked how long they spend virtually communicating with friends and family, it was about the same—meaning that at least five hours of each day are spent communicating remotely with others.
Unfortunately, though, three in four (73.6%) said that they communicate with loved ones less because they feel burnt out by communicating with colleagues and clients at work. And with many people failing to keep up with all their work emails and messages, it’s not surprising that half of people then also feel overwhelmed by the number of personal messages they receive (49.1%).
Rather than shutting down their laptop at the end of the day and being done with work, eight in 10 people (81.4%) said they had access to their work emails or work communication platforms on their phones too. One reason for this could be the high percentage of people (71.1%) who believe their boss expects them to respond to emails after hours.
Not only do people feel expected to answer emails outside of hours, but three-quarters of people (75.8%) also believe that you get ahead by responding to emails outside of hours. Either out of a feeling of necessity or ambition, three in four (74.5%) have taken a work laptop with them on vacation, and most people admitted to answering work emails whilst on vacation (74.3%) with just over half (54.3%) regularly doing so.
It’s clear from the survey that respondents are overwhelmed by the volume of email and digital communication at work but feel pressured to respond quickly and out-of-hours when necessary. What can be done to change this damaging communication culture?
Recently in Australia, a “right to disconnect” law has been introduced, meaning that employees legally have the right to ignore any work communication after hours. But what do Americans think about introducing similar legislation in the United States?
Respondents overwhelmingly thought it would be a good idea. Nearly all respondents (90.4%) thought a right-to-disconnect law would be beneficial. However, most people (70.6%) also thought their boss would object to such a law.
