Speedy email causing stress

Office workers have been told for years technology is causing more stress than convenience, and recent figures released by a Glasgow University professor seem to back that up.

Office workers have been told for years technology is causing more stress than convenience, and recent figures released by a Glasgow University professor seem to back that up.

Karen Renaud carried out research in which she arranged people into categories. She found some people were happy to reply to email at their leisure, while others became stressed at the prospect of keeping up with their email.

“The relaxed group don’t let email exert any pressure on their lives,” she told news.com.au. “They treat it exactly the way that one would treat the mail: ‘I’ll fetch it, I’ll deal with it in my own time.’

“The second group felt driven to keep on top of email, but also felt that they could cope with it. The third group, however, reacted negatively to the pressure of email.”

The research also found 34% of workers found themselves becoming stressed and overwhelmed by the number of emails they received per day.

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