Meet Michael. Michael is an addict. He is hopeless against his addiction and will do absolutely anything to get a fix. You might not even be able to tell that someone like Michael has a problem just by looking at him. He doesn’t look homeless or like he hasn’t bathed in days as some addicts do. He has a respectable job that he goes to every day.
Michael isn’t addicted to a traditional drug; Michael is addicted to email. He can’t stop checking his email, no matter how hard he tries. When he doesn’t check his email, the FOMO is strong. Once he sees the “new mail” notification pop up on his screen, a wave of excitement rushes over him. Michael won’t feel any better until he gets to check his email, which he does every 5 or 10 minutes.
Some of his emails contain good news and others bad. Just like a slot machine or any game of chance, the uncertain rewards are difficult to resist. While some of his emails are personal, many of them are work-related, but that doesn’t mean he is efficient at his job. All of these work-related emails actually keep him distracted from doing his work.
Many companies encourage employees to stay on top of email without realizing it causes a drop in productivity. Every time an email distracts us from our daily tasks it takes an average of 64 seconds to get back on track.
Michael is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and has researched self-control. He has gotten a handle on his addiction by turning off notifications and limiting his email checking to twice a day. He is not alone in his struggle or the solution he has found.
It’s gotten so bad that many German companies have restricted email use after hours. Companies like BMW, Volkswagen, and Puma have stopped sending emails to their employees after work hours. Their employees also can’t be punished for not replying to emails after work or on the weekends. Their goal is to give their workers maximum free time in order to prevent burnout and keep them happy in their jobs.
Nowadays many companies use internal instant messaging software to communicate, which can be worse than email since the notification sounds and popups can be never ending. One international company has tried to defeat the distractions by not only banning email, but also IM notifications. According to one report, they have “recovered 25% of their work time and increased customer satisfaction and efficiency by 30%.”
Meet Michael. Michael is an addict. He will do anything to get a fix. You cannot tell that someone like Michael has a problem by looking at him. He doesn’t look homeless or like he hasn’t bathed in days as some addicts do. He has a job that he goes to every day.
Michael’s problem isn’t drugs. Michael is addicted to email. He can’t stop checking his email, no matter how hard he tries. When he doesn’t check his email, the FOMO is strong. Once he sees the “new mail” notification pop up on his screen, a wave of excitement rushes over him. Michael won’t feel any better until he gets to check his email, which he does every 5 or 10 minutes.
Some of his emails have good news and others bad. Just like a slot machine or any game of chance, the uncertain rewards are difficult to resist. While some of his emails are personal, many of them are about work, but that doesn’t mean he is efficient at his job. All of these work emails actually keep him distracted from doing his work.
Many companies want workers to stay on top of email. They don’t know it causes a drop in productivity. Every time an email takes us away from our daily work, it takes an average of 64 seconds to get back on track.
Michael is a professor of psychology. He has studied self-control. He has gotten a handle on his addiction. He has turned off notifications and limited his email checking to twice a day. He is not alone with his problem or the solution he has found.
Many German companies have stopped sending emails to their workers after work hours. Their goal is to give their workers more free time to stop burnout and keep them happy in their jobs.
Nowadays, many companies use instant messaging to communicate. This can be worse than email since the notification sounds and popups can be never-ending. One company has tried to stop the distractions by banning email. They have gotten back 25% more work time and increased customer happiness by 30%.
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