Here's Where Most Employees Waste Their Time

What task do you spend the most time on during the workday? You can probably guess. Professionals spend an average of 28 percent of every workday on email. That amounts to a staggering 2.6 hours spent and 120 messages received per day, on average.

But what if there was an easy fix to all the time wasted over email and instant messaging (i.e. Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.)? According to Wharton psychologist, TED speaker, and best-selling author, Adam Grant, there is. But before we get into it, we must understand the problem at hand.

Why the average person checks their email or instant messenger every 6 minutes

In the 1980s, IBM pushed the message (no pun intended) that technology makes life easier, becoming one of the first companies to adopt email, save time communicating, and reduce workloads. A few days later, their servers crashed (as if George Orwell was foreshadowing tech’s impact on humanity). Fast forward to today and the average employee now checks their email or instant messenger every 6 minutes, according to RescueTime.

If you’ve ever seen the Netflix series, Explained, you may have seen Cal Newport, Georgetown Computer Science Professor describe his take on the angst and addiction that email and instant messaging have caused: “If I just tap that icon, I will get that feedback. That is almost impossible for the human brain to ignore. So if I’m a mad scientist trying to create a distraction doomsday device, email and Slack would be my first idea, and something like Twitter and Facebook would be my second.”

Adding one sentence to every email could save hours

Now let’s get into the solution. Whether you’re a busy mother of 4 (like my mom), or a 25-year-old male roommate of 4 (like me), allocating designated times for email, and specifically, instant messaging, throughout the day can help eliminate the urge to check the “Cat Moms” slack channel that you didn’t sign up for. But even more importantly, a chunk of these distractions could be reduced through more accurate communication.

As Grant described during a recent webinar for the online writing assistant Grammarly, we can collectively cut down on that 2.6 hours a day (spent on email alone) by adding one simple sentence to the end of every email we send.

The sentence should say something like this: "If you can, I would appreciate a response by ____, so that ____."

For example, to a potential customer: "If you can, I would appreciate a response by Thursday afternoon, so that we can finalize the pricing we discussed." Or, if you're messaging an employee: "I need an answer to these questions by noon tomorrow so that we can meet our deadline on this project." The simple (but remarkably overlooked) concept is to let the recipient know when you need a response and why. Or if something isn't urgent, have the consideration to let them know so they can go about their day. Here’s why.

How egocentric bias creeps into email

Grant referenced research by Cornell's Vanessa Bohns showing an alarming mismatch between what senders expect from email recipients and what those recipients believe is expected. The reason is "egocentric bias," which means most of us think we understand what others are thinking and feeling better than we really do.

For example, how many times have you misinterpreted sarcasm or another negative tone over email? Better yet, how many times have you received what you thought was an alarming message from someone (i.e. your client, boss, or significant other), only to follow up with a pleasant conversation over the phone?

"When you send an email, you don't usually expect an answer within an hour," Grant said. "But receiving that email? 'Oh, no! If I don't answer in the next four seconds, everyone will think that I'm a bad person and it will ruin my reputation and our relationship!'"

How poor writing costs companies billions

Grammarly's CEO says bad writing (or really, unclear emails and instant messaging) costs businesses $400 Billion in lost productivity. (With its 30 million users, the AI-powered writing company knows something about.. writing).

Next time you send an email requesting something, consider adding that one (honest) sentence telling them when you need an answer and why. Over time, your team, company, and relationships will all be better off with more accurate priorities.