Yeah, maybe. But how about texts?
2
Don’t worry I’ll ignore yours.
2
I've marked Adam Grant as Spam.
3
this is a very weak article. Somebody us who are slow to respond to email do so because we receive so many we're in email, typing as fast as we can, from 5am until 10pm. Are we allowed to ignore a few? What is there are more important things we have to do? I love the NY Times but articles like this are empty and foolish.
8
Utter nonsense. And do we have to immediately read and respond to every bit of snail mail we receive? What’s the difference?
1
I think it depends on the situation - I had a management position in which I supervised staff - was required to answer phones - interacted with other departments and monitored radio communication - the last thing I needed to do was read an email from an idiot 20 feet away -
7
Many emails are junk and used to get your address so u can get more spam or the links contain malware or viruses-don’t tell me what I have to respond to.
1
I agree with this article. I just wanted to point out that the Times is skewing ever younger in its frame of reference. To this tired old reader, "the writer E.B. White" needs no such introduction. But I had to resort to Google to find out who Marie Kondo is.
5
Hmm. Sanity or rudeness. Sanity or rudeness. Hmm. Tough choice.
Nope, I'll take sanity. The rest of you begging fools with little real claim on my time can take a hike.
The author has no clue. I have to have unsubscribe festivals on a regular basis.
1
How about this- I receive email: Please contact me to set up meeting. I respond: OK, when are you available? Then silence, even with a follow up contact. Why request a meeting then not follow up? What is wrong with people?
6
humbugh.
most email is irrelevant. if the email subject doesn't tell me what you want, I don't answer. if it doesn't have a subject, I don't answer. if the subject doesn't explain why I should care, I don't care.
people have bad email ettiquete. if your email is important, make it short, succinct, to the point. if you have two unrelated things, send two emails.
“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Mark Twain.
if your email is short I know you value my time. if your email is long, I know you don't care. if you don't care, I don't care.
4
At work, the biggest problem is when the person writing the original e-mail, does not really know who to address the e-mail and also the company policy of keeping all informed. The next problem arises when the responder/s hit “Reply All” instead of just “Reply”. The reply all makes an e-mail with 10 recipient into 50 to 100 e-mails in no time. If you do not want to be inundated with hundreds of e-mails, learn proper e-mail etiquette. Address the e-mail to only the most relevant people who have to take action, copy only those whose work may be affected by any action taken plus only one person above your level. Also learn to just “Reply” and not “Reply All”. You will be able to read and respond (just “Thanks” is enough most of the times) to all your e-mails.
4
Uhh... This is badly written. :/ It’s surprising the author is affiliated with Ted Talks — they’re generally so well-done?
It’s self-contradictory, for one — he goes from saying you must answer emails to then saying certain emails you should ignore, then back again... And he has the gall to complain that people responded negatively to the last article (“article”) he wrote on this subject.
Well, DUH. Of course, they did. As I am now.
A more worthy topic? That workers are so often saddled with mountains of emails at all. Instead of being all Peggy Post about it, how about write an oped telling massive corporations and managers to do something about THAT. It’s really more on them.
7
A better version for this piece would be: “No, you don’t need to send that email. It’s unimportant.”
6
198 of those unread messages are advertising, anyway. Chill out.
5
Dude, who asked you to lecture strangers on their manners?How can you say you're qualified to call them rude?
5
The very fact that an organizational pyschologist thinks that you can just do email all day and become a desk assistant no matter what profession you are in is ludicrous. If you are a scientist, a jet fighter pilot, a navy seal or airport baggage handler, this is garbage. This is an article for the people beholden to the "Office Space" type of management. Pure rubbish!
2
I read the title. It offends.
2
It does not only go for your job. It's rude, it's bad style, it'snot done.
Relax, commenters, your A.I. replacement will respond to emails promptly and without complaint.
7
What on earth is this article doing in the Opinion section of the NYT on a Saturday, or any day for that matter?
Let’s talk about rude:
Rude is replying-all to every email whether intended for all recipients or not. Don’t flood my inbox because I’ll learn to ignore you.
Rode is sending me personal emails at work when I explicitly say this is against corporate policy and your inappropriate emails can get me into trouble because work emails are monitored.
Rude is sending work emails to my personal email account because you know it and have no respect for boundaries.
Rude is calling me up every time upon hitting “send” to discuss the email I haven’t even seen yet, expecting you are my highest priority. You are not and now even lower on the list. How does that work for you if I did it (and I don’t)
Rude is commenting “I sent you an email” to cover your butt because you don’t have the professionalism to make a personal appearance or phone call to discuss the matter.
Rude is sending an email because it is easier than making a phone call and have the hard conversation. This behavior just confirms my suspicion you are not worth my time and have no backbone.
Rude is ignoring my calendar which is available to see, sending an email expecting an immediate response, calling me up even though I am clearly unavailable, texting me at the same time because you did not manage your time properly and commenting I’m rude. Really?
Clear these up and then come talk to me about how rude it is to not answer all emails. One of the best things about retirement is this all goes away and my life is mine.
12
1999 called - they want their newspaper article back
7
really? not responding to email, to texts, to voicemails, to forum queries, can happen for many reasons ... the spam filter overstepped, the computer crashed, the worker is overwhelmed, the expert is traveling, or out sick, or has a new email address, or a new job, or ...
it's not rudeness, these things. it's life in the big rabbit warren and cubicle veal farm of the vast corporate future.
you're the expert -- you know that.
what's gained, exactly, either by trying to make people feel more guilty about their overworked existence, or approving an unwarranted attribution of personal defect and hostility?
it's productivity management. why else would an organizational psychologist frame personal feelings of guilt and justify feelings of resentment in others, except as a way to make workers more productive?
not answering emails gets in the way of progress, productivity, profit!
i'm a retired internet executive, and i have experienced my share of unanswered emails. i have chosen not to answer emails, as well, from cranks and idiots.
i put these things under the categories of "expectations fail" and "life goes on," and i put guilt in the toilet and pull the chrome handle.
here's a useful rule: if your text or email is unanswered, then make the phone call. if you don't have the person's personal phone number, then you don't deserve a reply.
1
Earth to Ivory Tower, come in Ivory Tower.
2
To:[email protected]
From:[email protected]
Subject: Re: Etiquette Replying to All That Do-not-reply email
[center-click to download Howard Schulz’s pre-campaign mailer – double-center-click to download Michael Bloomberg’s white paper on Presidential Twitter etiquette]
Grant, this has now gotten rude – and personal.
We no longer care if you respond.
[your former friends at]
Email.com
PS
If you could autograph the GIF attached below of the lead-in pic to your NYT piece – with your thumbnail photobrushed in on the head of the sinner and Trump’s on the good hombre – we agree to share 30% of any mousepad sales resulting from ad placement accompanying the viral proliferation of that meme.
Also, please sign and return the copyright release, also attached below. This will enter you in a drawing for a $250 gift card for social media advertising.
…..
[two-faced.gif]
[justsignhere.doc]
1
Electronic tyrant, I am king, not you, and command condemnation of your insistent notifications from far flung Nigerian prince impostors on smelly s hole shores posing as someone semi important to defraud this King, the one true King of all lesser kings.
I am the one true religion, the way, and the light; there shall be no other, give freely to your god so he may know the true depth of your devotion and rescue the souls of your dearly departed, oi vay.
The Lord god commands your devotion, He giveth, and taketh away, send freely, paypal, visa, or wire transfer via ABA numbers, and He will build you a kingdom of your soul, blood, sweat, and tears, He commands you hit reply.
How about rude to send the email in the first place? In the days when one had to hand write or type and then post a letter, it was far more likely you were communicating something of consequence or importance. Email, not so much. First, we need a federal law creating ruinous fines for sending spam or marketing emails. For those coming from outside the United States, a weaponized drone would do. Second, tempting as it seems to cause the reply-all button to also send an electric shock to the sender, instead, every email you send should result in a charge, say 25 or 50 cents automatically deducted from the paycheck or private bank account of the sender, double that amount added to the taxes charged to their employer, and triple that amount for any "reply all" email, the profits from which should be shared by the recipient and some public benefit, say universal health insurance, combating the effects of bovine flatulence, or maybe training in self-control for anyone sending more than one email a day to a single person, or five emails a day in total. And yes, I unchecked the box that would have the NYT send me an email if/when my comment/rant is published.
As long as we’re complaining about email, here’s my 2 cents. Everyone who automatically clicks “reply all” should be banished to one of Dante’s circles of hell.
1
*
I don't like the comparison of unanswered emails to the snub in the hallway. If I had 199 people in the hallway waving to me at the same time, I would ignore them.
1
No one has unlimited time or attention, and even short answers take both. So yes...I can totally ignore email if I have to.
yes I can.....and I do!
Is it rude to ignore emails written by a robot? A lot of emails I get are not written by a person but by a piece of software.
Maybe their feelings would be hurt if I did not read and respond.
Is THAT your rationale? (smile).
I was not put on this earth to reply to every email. Period.
4
The author is confused. He needs to say clearly that it is rude to not "read" an email. It is not rude to not reply, if the email's content rubs one the wrong way. But it behooves us to always read emails.
Isn't the entire point of email that you don't have to respond to it THAT INSTANT like you do with a phone call, you respond to it when it is convenient for you? If you have something urgent to tell me, call me and we can talk about it. If you send me a letter, I'm responding to you when I have a chance, and I'm not going to break my back to reply to it within 5 seonds.
Hahahaha. I might respond within 48 hours. That's how you find out if something is really worth doing/responding to. Feel free to complain to my boss. Most interruptions just kill my productivity.
1
If someone I know sent me this article, either I wouldn't respond (which in a way is its own response) or I'd politely tell the sender he/she just wasted a few minutes of my time by suggesting I read it.
Heard at the watercooler:
"Hey, did you get my email?"
"No, what did it say?"
"Well, it said that we should go to dinner."
"Really, it said that?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, how about I go back and read it and respond."
"Ok."
Sound familiar?
1
I am basically a nice person, so I will not be "forwarding" the 100+ emails daily, marked "important",that must be for him, because they are not for me.
I do not have physical equipment that would necessitate "male enhancement", or "Casanova's secret" I'm not looking for a/an ________ bride. I am not a candidate for a miracle cure for tinitis, or neuropathy, the defective blood filters are not my problem. Walmart, Sam's Club, and Amazon have packages they are holding for me, they can let them go,it's okay. I don't even know what Keto. etc
Let's imagine e-mail and texts have been around for one hundred years, and someone just invented a devise by which you can speak to another person. Wow!
If people are so busy how do you explain social media?
I was much more persuaded by this take on emails by Professor Newport. The barrage of interruptions from emails keeps us from producing quality work. https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/is-email-making-professors-stupid
Rude is the definition of this country.
Wow, this is the worst article on leadership in the history of leadership articles. My first notion that email was a diabolical mess dates back to the mid-'90s. I had a meeting with a Silicon Valley VP. His EA was in the process of printing out the 300+ emails she received that day, highlighting the important ones and sy=tuffing them into a 3" file for his flight to NY. This was over two decades ago and the problems of abdication, passing the baton, passing the baton on and on have only gotten worse. C'mon, Adam, wake up and smell the coffee! Email is an ineffective and overused medium.
3
If it's not in my Bullet journal, it's not important.
1
When we are gone, our inbox will still be filled.
"Civility costs nothing and buys everything": Lady Mary Montagu (1756)
It only takes a second to hit "reply" and respond and be gracious, with one sentence!...Mr. Grant tells of the instances when you don't need to reply and I agree.
1
I hope my grandchildren read this
If you don't send me any emails, you won't be insulted when I don't respond. Problem solved.
No, it's not rude to ignore unsolicited mail or emails that you have neither the time nor the desire to answer. Emails can be the equivalent of a phone call that we let go to the answering machine or voicemail. They are like junk mail that we used to pitch into the trash. Perhaps you have nothing much to do except respond to emails from anyone, but most of us have better things to do. A non-response is a response. It says, don't bother me. And, just so you know, in the future, I desire not to read your articles. Consider this a response in advance.
if it was important you wouldn't be sending it through email.
"I’m really sorry I didn’t say hi, make eye contact or acknowledge your presence in any way when you waved to me in the hallway the other day. It’s nothing personal. I just have too many people trying to greet me these days, and I can’t respond to everyone."
Yes, when 475 people are trying to greet me in the hallway, that is exactly my thinking. Show me someone that responds immediately to every email that winds up in his/her inbox, and I'll show you someone who needs more work or someone who is not getting any real work done. The author's unrealistic expectations of workers are indicative of those of corporations and are the cause of dysfunction in the modern workplace.
2
I ignore work emails Friday night through Sunday night. Friends and family can reach me via text, which I check regularly, and my private email, which I do not share for work.
Since I began checking work emails Monday morning through Friday afternoon only, my life has been less stressful and my weekends have been devoted to leisure and family activities. My boss knows how to reach me during an emergency. (Of course, I am available at all times when working towards a vital deadline.)
For me, too much email is a symptom of the problem of too much work. Over the past few years in my field, job responsibilities have been combined with or added to other existing positions as people retired or left for other jobs, while budget cuts ensured that those positions would not be refilled. These positions are usually spun as "great opportunities." As a result, most people at my organization (I work in US higher ed) do the job of two or three people, without appropriate compensation or the technological tools needed to create efficiences that might allow this kind of work to succeed. So, no, I cannot answer the 50-60 emails I receive daily, even though most of them are legitimate and necessary for my work. I have colleagues who spend time on their days off responding to email, but I am unwilling to do that as there is no benefit or reward for doing so.
6
I concur with the comments that sometimes there are too many emails. I work with medical professionals in research and they usually have no time to respond to emails, for their response to patients takes precedence above most emails. So sometimes I'll just remind them with emails, which adds to more emails.
Most emails are about minor, small, irrelevant details that really don't need the attention of a write-up, and can be so much faster resolved with conversations. Unfortunately, that is not the culture that has been cultivated in many organizations. Sometimes, I guiltily write an email to a colleague about a small detail and, frustrated with the slow reply, go over to resolve it within a minute. Emails can be fast but waiting for other people in between leaves an uncomfortable hanging feeling.
I am astounded an article needed to be written saying that, no, one's professional email should not ignored. Is this part of the "ghosting" trend. I have a freelance gig from a former employer interviewing members for profiles, and I've noticed an increase in the effort just to get these folks to reply yes or no.
Emails are obselete, update to a phone call.
2
Is this not Humanity 101. I didn't need my quarter century of education to figure this one out. It is sad this article is necessary. Is it necessary?
3
I am retired so this problem is not so big now.
1. Meet face to face if possible so you know what is really going on.
2. Unsubscribe from anything you don't read.
3. Answer promptly if an answer is required.
2
I am amazed by how unusual it is for people (at work) to effectively manage their email. I would be ashamed if I regularly was reminded of emails I did not respond to... yet I seem to send reminders of a pending response multiple times each week to coworkers, as if I have all if the time in the world to be their assistant. When I got a boss like this, it was enough to make me quit after 16 years with the company.
Curious, however, for thought about voicemail. I get one a week from someone that I don’t know (salesperson) asking that I return their call. I never return these (in fact, I feel they comprise not one but two strikes of rudeness). Do others agree?
2
Spot on! I'm an attorney and my emails can get overwhelming, but that's my job. Many times I respond with a phone call. Emails can only accomplish so much -- in my job the phone can solve complex issues quickly where the tone of voice is important.
I have a new boss I adore, but he does not answer emails most of the time. When I was at a distance, I was once forced to email his boss' assistant to run downstairs and intervene on a pressing issue. The good side is he is very hands-off so it's like we don't have a boss. Autonomy is good.
I have a conscientious personality, and I get anxious when I have too many unanswered emails. I may not be the best attorney, but I have made my mark as being responsive, and perception goes far. Also, attorneys can lose their license for non responsiveness . . .
This article is not helpful. I have two email acccounts, work and personal, I have a cell phone, a work number, a home number, texts, messaging, Linkedin, and people who seem to think Facebook is a legitimate way to send a message that requires a response. Keeping up with all of it takes an inordinate amount of time. I absolutely cannot respond to all of it within a few hours of people sending it all. I would do nothing else. I respond to it all eventually, with the most pressing at the top of the list, OR if I am sitting at my desk I will answer as they come in, while doing other things. Many people have tricks and tips on how to manage all of this. This author, although he gets a lot of e-mail, just seems out of touch with reality.
8
I am in no way insulted if someone does not reply to my email. I am sympathetic, knowing they labor under the same deluge that I do. It is easy for even important messages to get lost in the flood. If it is important to me to get a response, I simply send the exact same email a few days or a week later.
For those crying, "It takes twenty seconds to reply!" Consider that 20 seconds each x several hundred emails amounts to several hours of mostly pointless work. You are not the only one trying to claim your twenty seconds.
12
Being a University professor, I'm seeing newer graduate students responding increasing less promptly, if at all, to emails. Responses to texts are inconsistent. This contrasts strongly with the responses of faculty or postdocs.
2
It is not rude to not respond to email; in fact, it is prudent.
4
"the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails"
Exactly, and as a business owner, if a new client doesn't answer emails in a reasonable amount of time, it's not long before they become an ex-client. They tend to be time wasters and I've found that, without exception, they turn out to be dead losses.
2
I respond to work emails right away. I reply to personal emails when I am able to and not with the urgency of responding to a work email. This has worked for me since emails came into existence. I don't reply to marketing emails and I "unsubscribe" them.
1
First, do not confuse a reply with a response- they are different. The answer to prayer is Yes, No, or Not now. I don't see why this cannot be also applied to email.
2
I'm retired.
I answer e-mails when I feel like it...or not at all.
It's seems like bad form to tell me I'm being rude about this. I'm not the least bit offended if people ignore my e-mails.
I spend a good deal of time in my garage playing with my old MGs. It's my version of being in Zen and a computer beeping away can spoil the benefits.
All my friends and relatives know this about me because I told them. If someone really needs to communicate with me, they'll call me or drive over and visit with me face-to-face. I might even teach them how to adjust a carburetor during their visit.
12
I generally agree with this. I respond to 100% of the emails I receive from other people who work for the same company I do. However, I draw the line at unsolicited sales emails from companies trying to sell me something. In that case, I find it's better not to respond because even a negative response will result in them emailing you forever because they keep your email. Can we al agree that we are not obligated to respond to annoying B2B sales emails?
8
Personal emails, yes. By this I mean something directly from you to me, composed by you, and relevant to both of us. Otherwise, low priority. When I was chair of a clinical department in a med school, I was getting maybe 200 emails per day. With competing demands of teaching, research, money management, administration, and, most importantly, seeing patients, I had little time left for mass mailings, solicitations, and the like in a twelve-hour day. And no time for trivial social media like Facebook and Twitter. Email is a blessing but too often a curse as well.
6
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. This organizational psychologist should certainly have considered that when email replaced snail mail, inter-office memoranda, and in person visits, it created an easy medium for asking unnecessary or rhetorical questions, submitting unsolicited suggestions, and generally sending messages that all too often just aren’t important enough to send. I wholeheartedly support selective reading of and responding to email. It’s called survival.
16
Believe we need to distinguish between personal emails and work emails. Absolutely there must be boundaries around work emails, and good managers should be putting them in place for employee morale and productivity. With personal email responses, they depend upon the relationship. I ended a personal relationship recently due to ignored emails because within the context of the relationship the other party was giving me the silent treatment and cold shoulder. Generally speaking I ask people both professionally and socially which method of communication they prefer: phone, text, or email. Then I use their preferred communication tool. With personal emails, sometimes its best to change them every few years to "clean the spam slate." Gmail has contact and email importing software. Also, as others commented, using different emails for different purposes is less overwhelming. I use one email account for business and paperless billing, one for subscriptions, one for political volunteering, and one for personal communication. I am retired. I keep email and social media apps off my phone: this limits distractions and protects privacy. I also have a backup flip phone in case smart phone is out of order and also when I wish to escape and "get off the grid."
3
I agree it is rude to ignore emails. When I was working, I often 50 or more emails per day. I was a point-person for lots of employees. I considered my inbox the be a line of colleagues standing at my cube entrance. I would not ignore an email any sooner than a personal visit. At the end of the day, I rarely had four unread-unanswered emails in my inbox. It was part of my job.
4
Email and all social media need to CALM DOWN. Yes you can do a lot of TASKS in a day but can you really accomplish much? And then we check our emails in the evening and first thing in the morning from home and on vacations. The real world escapes us. I predict that it's all on its way out. Social media especially is such a waste of time. We need to get real lives, not email and social media lives. Closing off the computer now for the week.
4
Does this advice apply to education?
When I was in college and needed extra help, I went to my professors' office hours. I didn't call or write them at home and demand immediate responses (answers to tests) in writing.
Now I’m a professor and 1) our state legislators and administrators promote cuts in real funding and faculty to implement a hollow vision of education in America as an intellectually and socially impoverished client of data-harvesting tech companies; 2) my inbox is inundated with span from these private companies and the public administrators who unwittingly serve them.
By the way, those office hour conversations gave me real understanding, some professional connections, and lifelong friendships.
6
Dr. Grant is right! Some of these nay-saying comments are absurd. No one is suggesting you reply to spam or broadcasts.
What I observe is that people who are overwhelmed and can't reply to relevant emails in a timely manner aren't, in fact, very good at their jobs. People who are very busy and very successful are on top of their emails, as they are with everything else.
8
@Gdo You might be the only person who read this article carefully and actually understood the author's point. All of the off-the-mark responses here just prove how bad people are at communicating, whether over email, phone, letter, or face-to-face.
In the law and and probably other professions, the higher-ups use email as a test. Are you there? How timely did you reply? (Especially on a late Friday afternoon.) I was roundly dressed down by my younger boss when I explained that I used the first quarter to half hour of my work day to plan out the rest of it, and did not immediately dive into the In Box. Clearly I did not "get it."
2
I receive about 200 emails a day in a typical work day. If I were to spend only one minute on each email, that would be 3 hours of my day just responding. Add in about 6 hours of meetings a day, and when am I supposed to get any work done?
10
Employees who work for dysfunctional organizations know that emails are a catch-22.
The crazy employer\manager can use email as a weapon to alter history of what was said verbally.
Emails are used as a paper trail to fire people. What is discussed in an email thread could easily be decided in a collegial 3 minute phone call or office visit, but those who are terrified of job security of playing a game of tennis by sending an email so the ball is always on the other side of the net, with the hope someone else misses the ball.
Emails permit employees to deny responsibility when everyone in an organization, including the highest and lowest level managers are collectively responsible.
Emails can also be a godsend when a crucial document or decision needs to me made involving several people who cannot meet immediately.
The bottom line is the utility of email is more dependent upon an organization’s cultural mental health.
Unfortunately, many people see it as nothing more than a weapon or a means to cover oneself.
9
Unsolicited email is just like all the junk mail in the the mailbox. One can read it or throw it away unread. One does not have to answer any email that is not specifically directed to that person on a topic of interest to both.
4
A lot of commenters are being deliberately obtuse. No, you don’t need to respond to spam or unsolicited sales outreach. But I routinely have emails ignored on things like:
*Dear Boss in Another Location, we need you to authorize this with accounting so our entire workgroup can actually do this thing that you asked us to do.
*Dear Group of Off-site Execs, you asked me to email options for this problem we are facing and then move forward on the option you choose. Our options are A, B and C. Our timeline is one week.
*Dear Colleague, there is a big mistake in your half of this project work, and we can’t proceed until you fix it.
The same people who ignore these emails don’t answer their phone or listen to their voicemail. Many work remote, so there is no “walk over to Jim’s cubicle.”
The problem is not email. The problem is that certain people like to insert themselves into every process so they can feel important. They demand sign-off authority; they demand to be copied in on everything; they slow down every process by asking for a report; they want fingers in every pie —- and then they whine and moan and humble-brag about being so busy and important and necessary that they can’t keep up with their inbox.
So take a beat to ask whether you have a thousand emails because you are just so darn important, or whether it’s because you are a self-important career roadblock who lacks the competence to sort the coupons from Starbucks from the necessary requests.
10
@Glen Amen, brother!
Since I've been out of my element in recent years having retired from the profession in which I was trained, I've noticed how boorish so many people are. When I've complained to people in this greater world of ours, they've snarked back at me in a boorish tone: "Welcome to the real world."
Perhaps I was privileged to work professionally with decent and courteous people in my life and that the snark is telling me I'm soft and should not complain about having to rough it with the rubes.
I find it quite interesting that class inequality has been conflated with rudeness in this way because I found Nancy Isenberg's "White Trash, A 400-Year History of Class in America" quite interesting. In this book she writes about how rudeness and poverty intersect, how the two are nearly inseparable etymologically, and how unjust that is: being filthy poor and rude to the nose and eyes is not necessarily someone's fault, indeed it is likely the fault of the disgusted wealthy person who kept them down and out in the first place through persistent rapacious political and economic means.
So it is with email, where we have a commingling of people between the classes: not answering emails from others who are not spam is just another form of class disdain, and in this case, class is not just economic, but hierarchal: ignore an email from your boss or your idol at great peril, ignore and email from a competing co-worker or someone you think you are above and you feel power. How rude.
6
It's not rude to not answer emails just like it isn't rude to not answer your phone or not answer a letter or not answer the door.
91
@Jack
I have had three calls today from people with strong Indian accents and allegedly English names trying to tell me there is something wrong with my Internet account. A four letter word response is the most they get.
I get letters from charities several times a week and I don't open them - not even if they are from one of the few charities I support - they get what they get from me and nothing more.
I never answer the door on Halloween.
I am retired now but for the last ten years I worked for a firm with 50 employees in one small building. My philosophy was if someone had something important and or controversial to say, or if I had something to say - go see them face to face.
I did respond to emails from clients on the rare occasions when they really needed me personally.
I guess if you live on a ranch in Montana and someone has driven miles to see you, different rules apply.
10
@Jack When I try to picture a person who doesn't answer the phone or open the door, I always come up with the same personality profile: a dysfunctional recluse. Such people are unlikely to end up in jobs that require active communication. So I don't see a strong analogy with the office scenario presented in the article.
6
@Jack-You are so right...I told the Bank of America I do not answer phone calls because they record everything, they can afford to write , And I will answer for sure.
1
Emails are useful, but not sufficient, so anyone who thinks they can manage a company by email will fail. Ultimately, making important definitive decisions and actions/executions most efficiently usually (but not always) requires some real time collective interaction in person or via phone... Some things just will never change.
2
We have communicated verbally for hundreds of thousand years.
We have communicated in written form for tens of thousand years.
We have used the telephone for hundred years.
We have used email for thirty years
and instant messaging for twenty years.
Its not a good idea to compare email to verbal communication, in fact its possible that email will disappear the same way my landline disappeared.
I check with my teens and young adults what the latest adopted technology for communication is and its changing fast.
We need to give email a little more time until we define its handling a social decorum. I think its more important we are able to say "Hello, Goodbye, Thank You, I am sorry" to avoid being rude. Those words seems to have become obsolete with electronic communication.
1
I tend to view columns like this with an extremely jaundiced eye. Most 'organizational experts' in business schools who dispense this type of advice have never worked in a real-life business setting.
According to Dr. Grant, the model employee sees a new message in their inbox and beams "I'll get on it!" If that truly was the template for email etiquette, the majority of office worker bees (and managers) would do nothing all day except read and reply, thereby leaving their actual jobs in the dust.
12
Guess what I will do if I receive an email with the subject "No, you can't ignore email. It's rude."
Dr. Grant seems to advise little league and other children's sports organization. He is likely the person that had the "brilliant" idea to give every child a participation medal and told every parent to let their children know that everyone's a winner,m even after their soccer team loses 12-0.
2
I generally agree with this if the context is a well-considered,appropriate email directed specifically to me. My issue is the copious number of group emails and reply-to-all emails, most of which are irrelevant. I get plenty of emails for which my first thought is "what is this? are you asking me a question? do you want me do something?". In many cases, this is unclear and if I can't figure it out in a few seconds, my inclination is to delete it. This whole email business is a huge issue from a productivity and quality-of-life standpoint. Reading the comments, it seems that I am obviously not alone in experiencing this.
10
Adam clearly doesn;t work in HR
2
Between e-mail accounts, text messages, voice mail in-boxes, social media messenger posts and junk mail in a real mailbox, we are assaulted by too many messages too often to even effectively sort through the onslaught. If the Do-Not-Call registry actually worked, it would alleviate at least some of the problem. We get dozens of calls a day from scammers and spammers. It makes me want to pull the plug and live in a cave somewhere out of reach.
3
Seriously? Most of my email is junk--it's been taken over by ads and spam and is more of a nuisance than a form of civil communication. Ignore it? I'd take a flame-thrower to it if I had one.
3
What about personal e-mails? I had a friend (note the past tense) who would respond to one e-mail out of three. I found this to be very inconsiderate and called him on it. His response was that I shouldn't be offended because he owed return e-mails to his own family members and he was just as bad at answering with them as he was with me. I said, "That's like saying I shouldn't be upset if you owed me $100 and weren't paying me back because there are other people you owe money to and are stiffing them as well." But you know what? The people who don't return e-mails are the same people who didn't return phone calls before the internet age, and prior to that they were the folks who didn't answer your letters. It's not the method of communication. It's the communicator. Remember the line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke?" "What we have here is a failure to commoonicate."
4
What a pathetic column!
Unfortunately, we now,live in a world where civility has been eclipsed by digital isolation.
If something is really important, take the time and effort to communicate it either personally or by phone. Email is not a substitute for interpersonal activity, and is nothing more than a message that everyone has the right to either acknowledge or ignore. The same goes for text messages, tweets, etc. Just because the author chooses his personal standard of email communication, that choice does not translate to a universal standard.
5
Ridiculous comparison between an in-person greeting and an email. Perhaps it’s rude to send masses of unnecessary correspondence and then expect prompt responses.
5
You might want to read the article in the Chronicle of Higher Education "Is Email Making Professors Stupid?" by Carl Newport if you are going to have this discussion.
I turned off the ping and the notice floating on the screen for my email as soon as I got my computer. I could never get anything done with that kind of distraction going on. I check my email 3 times during the day - when I get into the office, after lunch, and before I go home. I'm paid to get things done, not answer email.
12
"When researchers compiled a huge database of the digital habits of teams at Microsoft, they found that the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails."
The best boss I ever had was a very busy man. When I interviewed for the job, he said it was my job to make him look good. I thought that was a little arrogant, but it was true. He always returned emails and he in turn always made sure that I looked good. I learned not to bother him with small stuff and to prioritize. I also learned that above all else you never missed a deadline.
My next boss would not return emails and lie about it. She would spend precious minutes of meetings talking about her personal life (which was of course wonderful) and suck up to anyone with a title higher than her. She would often throw colleagues under the bus and actually fired people via text message. She was a terrible manager, and the department was completely dysfunctional, but she managed to climb the corporate ladder just as fast as the first boss.
When I have a customer complaint that cannot be resolved, I research the CEO and a few other people at the top of the food chain and copy them on the email chain. All but one of them has had someone get back to me within the day, some even wrote me personal messages. I get junk in my inbox all the time, including from this paper. You can quickly sort through your emails and discern what is important, but a non-response is just rude.
5
While I agree that it's rude to ignore people, I think this article misses some broader points about how detrimental email can be, especially when trying to solve complex problems. Of course we all get emails asking petty questions that could have been solved with a Google search. Wasting people's time in this way is far more rude than not responding. But the greatest time suck I've experienced is when more complex interactions get dragged out across multiple days and dozens of emails. Often these could have been resolved with a 5 minute phone call, where the participants can respond to each other in real time, take cues from tone of voice, and rapidly clarify any misunderstandings.
Overall, the absurd overuse of email is a much bigger cultural problem than the rudeness of not responding. In fact, I'd argue that these disembodied, impersonal forms of communication are a primary cause for our cultural abandonment of personal courtesy.
7
Yes, you can ignore email, just as you can ignore other types of unsolicited communication. When face to face with somebody, you can signal your intent to talk by making eye-contact or clearing your throat or touching that person lightly. Then you wait a split second to see if that person is ready to hear from you. You don't just start talking. That's rude.
Just because we have the technology to communicate with someone remotely doesn't mean we have the right to demand a response from that person without their mutual consent.
5
Nonsense! Anyone and everyone can send you an email. That does not make them your highest priority. Good mangers know where to spend their time. You shouldn’t ignore subordinates but you can teach them how and when you prefer to communicate. I meet daily with someone who sent numerous emails. Now oNe three minute meeting cut down my messages significantly.
5
I am not overwhelmed with email.
I used to run an international forum, which I no longer do, and people would get mad if I did not answer each and every post.
My response was, "If I don't have something to say, I don't say it." Instead of responding with some bland sentence and a stupid emoticon.
Less is more. Not responding to stupid emails is the equivalent of a poker face.
4
I should like to chime in with some random thoughts. 1. Once again, my fellow readers' comments are better, more informative, and incisive than Grant's article itself. (I read the vast majority of comments.) 2. I wonder about psychologists. They impute or blame your problem on you; psychiatrists don't. 3. Humanity is social and we like to communicate; however, the electronic spectrum that is E-mail really can be over-whelming in quantity, which makes it difficult to respond in a timely manner to those we want to answer. 4. I recall a New York Times columnist wrote a few years ago that E-mails ought to be responded to within three days. [Does any reader recall who wrote that? I think female, Irish surname.] 5. I've seen some memoranda which have boxes to tick at the top which include: "No response necessary." 6. I like Robert Townsend, of Avis Rent a Car, who wrote in his "Up the Organization" about a memorandum he wrote to the Avis H.Q. staff "This is the last memorandum" encouraging his managers to just get up and go to the office of the person they needed to consult with to get an answer right away.
4
What a world. If someone forwarded along an unimportant letter, that would seem rude.
The emailverse is noisy and overpopulated because humans like finger tip power. Like a magistrate don making calls in his bathrobe, it’s a feel good power trip.
2
I completely agree with this column. Not to respond to an email is rude. If you don’t have the time, make the time.
As an old fart, I agree with your points about the “optics” of not responding to email. I have a colleague who rarely replies, she is several time zones away making calls difficult. It is frustrating in the extreme to try to get an answer to a question from her. You’re right about the message, not replying says I’m not important. So, the result is that things move ahead without her input and I don’t feel bad about cutting her out of loop. If the non-responders knew the long term result, they may not be so unresponsive.
2
Yes. I can ignore emails. And if it's rude. . .well so what?
2
My job requires that I check email several times a day and reply. My assistant does most of the work in my email, but still, I’m finding myself checking it 20 times a day and often writing a reply to one or more people each time. In my job, missing an email could mean lost revenue and/or exacerbating a problem, making more work for myself later, or, at the very least upsetting one or more people. My goal is to change my email reading habits to 4 times per day and expecting texts or calls for more immediate issues. Email/texts/calls can really suck the life out of your work and even your soul.
1
'Many thanks for forwarding the development proposal we discussed late last evening, and we will be reverting back on the above in due course'.
'It was a pleasure and a privilege to attend the conference on pink flamingos organized by your organization, and this is an opportunity to send you and your colleagues, best wishes for continuing success in your endeavors'.
'I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your invoice for services due, and this is now being processed accordingly with our department of taxing matters'.
'With appreciation for bringing to our attention, the pension fund for Mr. Joseph Pennyweather, we have taken note that he is in transit to his new assignment in Bali'.
'You are a gem! Having spent the morning in search of the Executive Director's personal file, you can imagine my relief to find it on my desk with your help. Thanks a mil for making my day'.
Dear Dr. Grant,
This is brief note of appreciation to tell you how amusing but useful this reader found your column of today, with many thoughtful tips and reminders on following up with one's correspondence.
Although I have yet to read other writings of yours, I plan to keep these in mind, with the added pleasure of anticipating an early spring and while enjoying Edith Wharton's 'Age of Innocence', I remain with best regards, sincerely yours,
Miss Ley
3
@Miss Ley -- I write with such great sincerity to tell you that I think you are a gem. So, here is my telling:
Miss Ley, you are a gem.
Your brief anecdotes inspired me to write this reply to your gemological comment that glints in ways that shed light in a broad spectrum of colors I have not ever seen or imagined before. Indeed, I can see clearly now!
My hope, of course, is that the ever erudite and considerate NYT editors think upon your submission as worthy of their "pick" and add their sunny little logo to the upper right-hand corner of your comment.
It has occurred to me I'm in your debt for having received your wisdoms offered without reservation or condition, in fact, I just came across them while lost in the wilderness of so many other weeds and stumps and briar patches -- a great thicket of comments! Your writing was like reaching the liminal edge to a great clearing, where finally I was able to have the critical distance and really see the forest of thoughts no longer obscured by the thoughts themselves: yes, sadly it is true, so many of the thoughts were so wooden they obscured my vision, blocked my path, diverted my trailblazing toward the Truth to places of great mendacity.
All in all, I shall look to see more of your writings in hopes of attaining the guidance such a compass of yours predicts.
With great folly,
Chris
1
Let's face it: the world will be a better place when people are a little more considerate in all aspects of their lives - at work, on email, at home, over the phone, at the store, in traffic, etc.
Get over yourself and try a little empathy. You won't regret it.
2
This article has some good points. However what bothers me is that the writer clearly is commenting on and disagreeing with the perspective shared by KJ Dell ‘Antonio in her January article and he doesn’t have the decency to acknowledge this except for using quotes from her article . This is in my opinion very rude.
1
Yes I can and I do ignore whatever emails, voicemails I want. I have control of my life and nobody owns me, my time or my thoughts.
In fact, as I have, take your computer, your TV, your radio, your smartphone and throw them out. You will be happier, healthier and certainly more in control and definitely not a slave to if not all the garbage polluting our minds, much of it
Email - maybe
Slack - definitely
Good article but it doesn't get to the heart of the matter which the author tees up perfectly:
"I’m not saying you have to answer every email.…... If senders aren’t considerate enough to do their homework and ask a question you’re qualified to answer, you don’t owe them anything back." Someone needs to make that judgement. I also think there is a timing aspect to this, some emails need a response today and others can wait a bit.
However, the situation is much worse than the author suggests. Where I work, the office politics are such that people frequently copy everyone they seem to think has anything to do with a project or issue. You receive too many emails and start to go numb thinking none are really for you. However it is CYA technique. After things go bad on a project people cite that email received two months ago and wonder why you weren't more involved or something.
But this all pales when compared to Skype. People seem to think they can pop in on your computer at anytime and get an immediate response. It's rude and passive aggressive.
3
The key to making email truely effective in the work place would be a system where it costs you 10 cents to have me open your email and it costs you 1 dollar to have me respond. Given that it is costing my employer $150/hour (to have me answer your email $2.50/minute) you should be willing to cover 24 seconds of my time to respond to you.
1
In a professional situation, if it is really important and I want an answer I will not email but text (SMS).
Many people at fairly high level positions will not check email regularly or it goes through a secretary. And that is the case even with "private" email.
If you have their phone #. They will look at a text.
2
Starting with his opening, the author confuses genuine human interaction with email. He seems to think that email now somehow qualifies as genuine human interaction. If that's what he thinks, then I fundamentally disagree with his viewpoint.
Also, as several below have indicated, it's doubtful that this person has experienced some the ceaseless flow endured by many a senior manager. So, YES - I can and do ignore emails that I deem irrelevant, unimportant, pointless, etc.
3
Filter
Ignore spam
Ignore unsolicited emails from vendors (almost spam)
give a colleague the benefit of the doubt once or twice for off-hour emails
repeat offenders can be ignored
your boss. sigh. A bad boss should be met with a group response. But even that is dangerous. Retaliation is a sacrament in many organizations. Really, you should talk with your colleagues before you join. It's the only safe way out.
1
I have one business email account and two personal ones. One of the personal accounts is for websites that demand an email address before allowing access to their content and for my personal political activities. The other personal acct is for important stuff like my bank or my doctor or billing.
If spammers find their way into the important personal account or the business account, I regularly create rules to trash the spam (works better than the spam filter).
I arrive to work early before everyone else begin their demands on my time and go through every unread email. Every email gets one of these actions: 1) a reply containing the requested info, 2) a reply indicating when I can provide the requested info and is again marked as unread, or 3) marked as spam and a rule created to trash any future email from that sender. There’s very little spam because I use the business acct only for business. I really appreciate senders who include informative subject lines and who bother to state exactly what they want.
1
Simply “processing” one’s email inbox can be a way to avoid doing the hard things that need to be done. It takes a lot more discipline and brainpower to work on strategy, writing, analysis or whatever else one’s job might require. It is much easier to just react than to direct one’s activities to the top priorities. And, yes, I value email as an essential tool to get my job done. But I try to do the “hard things” (and not email “processing”) during the parts of the day that are most productive for me. I work closely with someone who seems to value email processing over other priorities, even responding to emails on their phone when in the middle of in-person meetings that they themselves have called and are supposed to be leading. It seems to be a self-soothing behavior for an easily distractable person. And then this person complains that they are overloaded and unable to get their work done.
2
There are two inventions that, in tandem, have worked to destroy the productivity of every manager and employee by granting permission to interrupt their day. The first was the answering machine and it's evil spawn, voicemail. The second was the Borg-like transmogrification of these into email, a technological nightmare of intrusion and disruption.
In days of yore, when knights were bold and we sent people to walk on the moon, there was no email and answering machines were thought of as a display of arrogance --- what, you're so important you can't afford to miss a call and have somebody call you back? There was no greater disappointment and embarrassment than to come home to an empty answering machine. Nope, nobody called, because nobody cares.
Being too busy to answer email because of all the emails you get reminds me of the guy who says he's not in good enough shape to start working out.
By the way, I'm retired, so I have all day to answer email, if I ever got any.
I’ve been a business before and during the era of email. Too many conversations are held over email rather than simply picking up the phone for a brief discussion. Whether this is laziness, avoidance behavior, or over-documentation, it’s become somewhat problematic with a lot of people. I have to counsel my staff that some things are better spoken than written.
1
No, you do not have to answer an email anymore than you must open your door every time the doorbell right or answer your phone every time it vibrates.
If it is something to do with work, then yes, during your work-hours you must respond. But when you are on your own property and on your own time you do not need to interrupt whatever you're doing for an outside intrusion.
It seems to me that during this time period most people seem to believe privacy means to keep secrets often means the person doing so is hiding something notorious, taboo, or immoral. That's ridiculous.
To quote Dictionary.com Privacy 2. the state of being free from unwanted or undue intrusion or disturbance in one's private life or affairs; freedom to be let alone.
Of course, no American has that Right any longer. Social rules from Reagan onward made sure of that.
My 42 yo son told me: "If a person is not doing anything wrong then there is no reason to hide." this is when I was talking about choosing not to answer the door just because someone knocked on it.
2
I understand this dilemma very well, I have multiple reports and am in a high-stress fast-paced career path. Having different tiers of priority in my inbox and small children do rightfully demand my attention after school/daycare at the same time I do believe in practicing "electronic hygiene". I don't think it is good for mental or physical health or productivity to be glued to our screens. It certainly feels hypocritical to tell my child to not self-soothe over a screen when I am myself glued to my device. So here are the hard-earned boundaries I have set to get this balance:
1. Everyone I work with knows between 5:30-9:30 I don't check email, that is time reserved for my family. If there is an emergency, and colleagues/extended-family who need me to respond to such an emergency, they are on my priority ring (gets through the silence-barrier) on my cell phone.
2. Only key colleagues can expect me to respond to an action item over the weekend. This is verbally communicated.
3. If email is resolvable with a quick response, I spend my dictation software to send a blurb back within business hours, either to respond and take care of it, or to delegate to someone who can take care of it better.
Rest of the world has learned that I take care of whatever business effectively within 2 business days. If everyone feels entitled to a response, they need to reset their expectations.
Works like a charm.
2
My job isn't to read or write email; email is simple one of the tools available to do my job. In recent years, even corporate email has devolved to the point where there's far more noise than signal, and many businesses have switched from email to instant messaging tools such as Slack, and email is now little more than the place where company newsletters to go die.
Your assumption that email is central to most jobs is becoming less and less valid.
6
I wish I could reply to every email promptly. I wish I could answer every question, fulfill every need, satisfy every sender. What this article doesn't acknowledge is the reality that in many work environments, staff are constantly given more responsibilities and told to "do more with less." I feel as though the author has no idea that there are many kinds of work environments and that many people, like myself, simply can't manage the amount of work they are expected to perform. I'm in a non-profit academic environment, and I am totally overwhelmed all the time by the amount of real email in my inbox. Some empathy is what I need.
18
When I worked for a Federal agency justly renowned for its technological prowess, in my role as web curator I would come into work to over 6,000 pieces of email every morning, sometimes over 20,000. Because I had significant duties beyond responding to email, I had to winnow those down quickly and only respond to those that mattered. Spam filters would catch a lot of them, but the others I had to judge based on the material in the subject and first line of the body of the message.
You would be surprised about how many involved either interplanetary aliens on earth or the moon landing being a hoax. I only seldom responded to those. Most of the others were simple congratulatory messages that did not require a response, but I was still left with hundreds I had to respond to.
I had to do a lot of tricks, like store boilerplate phrases on single keystrokes or invoke scripts that compiled and sent personalized-appearing form letters. It still left me with around a hundred requiring actual responses. I was lucky to get it done by lunchtime, even typing over 200 wpm as I became able to do out of sheer necessity.
It is easy to say that you "should" respond to email. It is simply not realistic in many cases.
5
Mr. Grant I will gladly send you a random sample of the emails I did not respond to last week. I you are willing to pay me $125/hour to reply to them PLEASE let me know, I've got about 12,000 in my inbox. Unfortunately my boss has told me that she doesn't think replying to them is a good use of my employers money, but if you are willing to cover the cost, I'm a happy man.
3
Agree with this piece. My job relies on collaboration and feedback. I’m not an OCD person at all but it only takes a few minutes to go through my email and Slack when I sit down in the morning. I can quickly separate the spam from the questions directed only to me and then delete the ones that aren’t. I reply in real time as I get new messages throughout the day. I don’t even notice this as a burden but just part of my day to day. What I don’t like is when people wait for a once a week meeting for feedback when if they had they given it around the time I asked for it then I’d already have the adjustments finished. Others not taking my approach costs me DAYS in extra work.
@Shannon
If it takes you only minutes to go through your emails you don't really understand the problem. It's 10 AM on Saturday, I cleaned out the inbox last night at 8:30 pm there are now 54 new emails that made it through my spam filter and 124 that didn’t, most are from Asia, we have offices in over 100 countries. Which means that it is business hours somewhere in the world from 8 PM EST on Saturday until midnight on Friday. Which means waiting from 7 AM to 10 AM EST to respond to an important email means our office in China doesn’t get the response until 10 PM local time.
4
But there have to be some clear conventions and etiquette for work emails. I worked as a business consultant for years and emails were like a firehose that caused stress and wasted time. Here are some thoughts to use it better at work. Write a great subject line so topic is clear. Keep it concise. Let your colleagues know what you are asking of them. Only send to people who need the email. Use reply all sparingly. Sometimes on email chains the topic changes - when that happens change the subject line and the recipients.
Use slack or text or phone if you have a quick question.
If there are some miscommunications in the email that means that you need to have a live conversation.
Be courteous and a great teammate always, including in emails.
1
I'm a little old fashioned, but restrain myself from picking up the phone and calling people, when I can type a few lines and zip them off in an email. I used to call certain friends and colleagues on the phone, hoping to hear the sound of their voice on the other end. Inevitably, my call would always go to voicemail and they would respond with an email. Hmmmmm. Times had changed. I stopped calling. Now, certain friends and colleagues don't bother responding with emails. Some prefer texting with abbreviated spellings for complete words. And, every so often, I take a chance and call someone on the phone, and they pick up.
3
I read this piece last night and found myself still irritated when I got up this morning. Rude not to respond? Rather victim blaming, I think. E-mail in organizations as primary communication has completely altered functioning at work, consuming our attention and diminishing the quality of interactions. It is expedient to shoot off e-mail but often not realistic for a recipient to respond promptly. As a tenured professor and academic program director in a public university, if I respond to every e-mail that lands in my inbox each day, I would spend my entire days--and weekends--locked to a screen. I do the best I can but the onslaught is constant. Grant also writes about “givers and takers”, talking of givers as generous in sharing time, skills and energy with others. Being a giver means having focused attention and progressive vision. Attention quality and vision is depleted when tied myopically to a screen. Of course, e-mail is convenient and very useful, too. It has just ballooned in volume, taking us over. It is time for a critical reassessment of how we use it and how it affects the quality of our work. I have opened discussions at work about needing e-mail policy, guiding principles re: managing e-mail, e.g., when to “reply all” and not, what is a worthy message to send and not, when to walk down the hall and knock on an office door to ask a simple question vs. send e-mail, etc. There are lots of things we can do to improve the mess we’re in with our inboxes.
11
Unanswered emails are often highest among micro-managers, slow decision-makers, managers with bosses who can't discern what's important and urgent, or those with managers who are insecure about the value they provide so they copy everyone on an email to show "they're on it". There are so many reasons other than rude-ness that need to be addressed. The best thing managers can do when they start a job, is review with their team how to communicate -- who, when, how, why, and that will vastly limit email. And ask their team to hold them accountable, too.
2
i get over 200 junk emails every day. It’s impossible to manage. Over 90% of voice calls I receive is from telemarketers and phone calls are disruptive. I don’t answer unless I know the number that’s calling me. If the number doesn’t leave a voicemail the number goes to my black hole of blocked calls never to bother me again. I know there are other one billion numbers I need to block. It’s like a marathon; you don’t finish unless you make your first step.
With that I tell people that really wants to get a hold of me to text me, even if it’s just to let me know that they sent me an email that needs my attention. If it’s someone that may call me, I tell them to leave a voicemail.
It’s not rude to keep my sanity.
2
If you want a response, make yourself useful. If you didn't get a response, you weren't useful enough. It's that simple.
Nobody has any obligation to help you make a living. Everyone is there for the money, and the money alone. Their time isn't theirs. It's their employer's. Their employer will make it clear to them what they're require to do, and how they should respond. There's nothing personal about it, so don't read any rudeness into it.
Your employer should have explained to you when you were hired that you're expected to leave your emotions at home, because they're just not needed.
I'm a musician and I often send emails to people who are responsible for booking venues where I'd like to perform. While it's very rare for any of the recipients to respond to my email, I do it because if I follow up with a phone call I can say, "I wondered if you got my email," and, if they did, they'll at least have something to look at for background. But I do find the lack of response rude and frustrating. It only takes a few moments to respond, and easy to have a pro forma response ready: "I received your email and appreciate your interest in our series, but I am unable to respond at present." For many years I was a program producer at a public museum, and my staff and I were constantly barraged with requests from performers and presenters. I felt that it was part of our job to acknowledge such inquiries. Even if I knew that what that person offered was not a good fit, I believed that the sender deserved at least a minimal acknowledgement: "Thank you for your interest, your materials will be filed appropriately, and if an occasion arises for us to discuss a possible booking, we will be in touch." Simple courtesy.
2
@HB
I don't understand how people think that an auto reply is somehow courteous. I can set my email to send out a reply to all outside emails that contain the word musician that says "Thank you for your interest, your materials will be filed appropriately, and if an occasion arises for us to discuss a possible booking, we will be in touch." Which now takes up server space on my side and apperently gives you false impression that I even read you email or that it wasn't filtered out by my spam filter.
@HB I too am a musician. I respond to every email I receive. I experience the same thing as you do in my communications with venues, music directors, etc. From your comment, I can tell that you are a "mensch" as well as a musician.
If my inbox was a top priority for my job, I’d never get my job done. There’s a fine balance playing email triage.
11
When I worked in the department of university advancement at University of California, it was the end of the 1990s. Emailing was pretty common by then. I was still wrestling with missing the human voice on the other end. Then, there were my colleagues whose work spaces were a mere 10ft from my own. While I preferred they drop by my desk wiht their requests, they would email their requests (I was the campus art director) and, when I couldn't respond right away, they would get huffy about it. I reminded them the door was open and they were welcome to drop by. Alas.
But here is the biggest problem I have noticed about email. There can be a misperception about the sender's mood. There is little chance to gauge voice inflection suggesting joy or anger or concerns. That's why I still prefer a phone call.
That said, I admit email is wonderfully convenient and, when attempting to reach out to several friends all at once, it really comes in handy.
Finally, I still can't fathom any advantage of facebook over an email. Got a vacation photo or two to share? Attach or embed to an email. If anything exposes Facebook as a scam as much as sharing personal data, it is the convenience and relative security of email.
1
I respond to emails regularly from personal and professional calls as well as to texts and VM. It's part of the communication required for my jobs. I've quickly learned who to respond to and how. Often a "thank you" or "got it" is enough. I am amazed that there are people at one of my offices who do not speak even when spoken to, even when in very close proximity. I mostly choose to keep being me. Staying on top of things, deleting swaths of non-personal emails, and only reading when I've made time t respond works best for me.
3
Yes, we all have to deal with email. But it is ridiculous when someone sitting 30 feet away or less from you sends an email when it would be immensely better if they walked over to talk about whatever the subject is. Millenials at my work place send an email that is never quite informative enough and I, a mid-boomer, get up to go talk to them about further details about the subject. Emailing is a result of the CYAism in our society. I am who I am and I prefer face to face conversation as you get to experience more about the other person as far as body language and temperament about the subject, that which you do not get with a sterile email. But alas, I am nearing retirement and will put up with the inanity of email in the workplace for a while longer.
7
Email is the most impersonal form of communication.
People who are connected to us personally, or professionally for that matter, also know how to text us or call us at the office. Texting, with it’s forced brevity, has an informality that feels personal. And calling, well it’s still the next best thing to bring there, isn’t it?
An email in an inbox with bill payments, shopping receipts, has no more a personal touch than a coupon book in a mailbox.
No one should feel a moment’s guilt about a delayed response.
2
"An organizational psychologist"? What exactly is that?
Prior to retirement I worked in federal law enforcement and intelligence for 30 years (a 24/7 job). By the end of my career I was getting >200 emails a day. For each one I read, two more would pop up. I quit reading them.
If my colleagues needed me they could call me, and let me know that they needed a response to their emails.
Adam, I've got a suggestion: stick to your rules, but stay out of the kitchen, where the real work is being done.
12
Thank you! In general, leaving a phone message is just plain rude. It is saying that the sender is too important to be bothered with composing and typing a message, thereby reducing the recipient to a secretary of the sixties slaving away at a dictaphone trying to decipher the boss's ramblings. I rarely respond to a voicemail over the phone. If their message involves me writing something down I will respond via email with "I see you called. What's up?"
Agreed.
What's worse are clients who email a busy professional office trying to schedule an appointment and then take over a day responding to an offer that I usually provide within minutes of the request.
Drives me nuts, it's completely inconsiderate and exhibits childish entitlement.
1
My inbox contains lot's of appeals for money (both political and nonpolitical, and both Democratic and Republican), missives from apparently lonely women (33, a lot of fun, and either Russian or Serbian), unsolicited advertisements, offers of "free" services, requests for filling out surveys. In this chaos of electronic trivia, perhaps one in twenty emails is relevant to my life. My solution: Search slowly for the ones that matter and trash can the rest. Is that rude?
1
Responding is one thing but being polite and nice is another.
And most people fail miserably at all three.
So many adults have never learned to say please and thank you and, in addition to the lameness is not having the common courtesy to respond to an email, when someone does something good for you, or if a client writes to you, have the decency to respond and especially to say thanks.
Instagram is the perfect reflection of our selfish self-centered society, where most people care about one thing and one thing only and that’s the person they see in their selfie mirror.
1
You want to be hated? Reply-All with nothing more than “thank you”.
I gave up after the first paragraph. If the hall was filled with everyone I know, then yes, there’s a good chance I’ll be snubbing someone.
7
I agree that legitimate emails should be answered. But how quickly are you obligated to respond?
People who regularly abuse email are just as rude as those who ignore actually important and relevant emails. Everyone thinks their needs are a priority and use email and now text messages to convey their insistence that they have a right to your time and attention. Passing the buck and the job to others by email is one of the hallmarks of our age. As someone who was there when this passive aggressive form of communication came to dominate business (or in my case, government) communication I found email was rarely a positive thing. More often than not it became a form of wack a mole with forward and reply being used to defer or deflect responsibility and dominated by a hierarchical system where upper management would communicate minutia down stream in bursts hoping to find someone foolish enough to reply. Email has come to dominate communication not because its effective but because its easy. When you have to personally communicate with someone who’s time is limited due to job constraints then the trivia is harder to dump in their laps than when your hiding behind a computer screen.
7
I am not obligated to answer phone calls and I’m not obligated to respond to emails.
Now go away.
14
One underused tactic for sending short pieces of information: Put the statement in the subject line, followed by [EOM] for “end of message.” Perfect for things like “report is ready for review” or “meeting cancelled; will reschedule” or “we closed the deal!”
Another is to close your email (and/or include in subject line) with [NRN] for “no reply necessary” to eliminate the dreaded loop of polite Chip-and-Dale thank-you responses.
If adopted as part of a corp culture it could turn that in box into a concise flow of useful and efficient communication...like Slack.
10
You write: "...when you ignore a personal email, that’s exactly what you’ve done: digital snubbery."
Yet your column isn't about personal email; it's about work email.
Friends and family are NO the same as workmates, bosses, people you've never heard of.
2
Machines, including digital ones, were made to serve humans, not the other way around.
I think what you see here, Dr. Grant, is a visceral response to your suggestion that we live in digital shackles. I, for one, will not, and if you want to email me about it, I will respond if and when I please.
5
Can I put in a good word in for the personal touch. I have lost count of how many times I received a rather angry email from a colleague, customer, even a family member, and, when I take time to visit that individual or get on the phone with them, find that Mr./Mrs./Ms. Hyde turns into Dr. Jekyll. No doubt, email does save time when it comes to technical questions---but, too often, it allows our emotions to colonize our rational selves--which adds excess baggage to what should have been a simple problem solving exercise.
3
A corollary: as senders, we can be more conscious about how and when we use email as a communication tool, and whether we are purposefully avoiding real conversation.
4
I absolutely loved your article and all of your points were spot on! I wonder if you could possibly do a follow up with the whole "ghosting" approach that some people have decided to use? Thanks for writing this piece!
1
I disagree with the author that "Not answering emails today is like refusing to take phone calls in the 1990s or ignoring letters in the 1950s." I wasn't getting hundreds of calls a day in the 1990s. I can't speak to the '50s but I suspect workers were not expected to trot down to the mailbox, tear open 100 letters, sort them, and type up appropriate responses within 24 hours. Email is far less useful than it used to be, because it's become overwhelming and constant.
8
The key to appreciating Adam Grant's moral story on email responsibility is to elevate the more aptly named correo electronico to the same status as palpable human contact: "I’m really sorry I didn’t say hi, make eye contact or acknowledge your presence in any way when you waved to me in the hallway the other day. It’s nothing personal. I just have too many people trying to greet me these days, and I can’t respond to everyone." Email and social media in general have served as stand-ins for a quick voice call, a bracing face-to-face, and the courtesy of a hallway hello. Work email is a productivity tool and a good manager would not recommend it as a replacement for these other forms of affirming conversation. There's no social need for the author to guilt the already overworked American about their bottomless inboxes. This piece strikes me as the work of a paid HR moralizer.
6
I respond to email from people I actually have a working relationship with and who expect a response. Everything else goes into the trash folder. I will say that email is useful for keeping a record of a conversation that should be kept — people don’t forget as easily.
2
Just checked, I have 186,000 unread emails sitting in my mailboxes. The vast majority of them spam.
And that's the crux. What worries me are the important and legitimate emails that get caught up in all that spam.
Give me a solution to get rid of the garbage!
73
@Kara Ben Nemsi Set up an email account to catch all the garbage received because you wanted to view something on a website or app that requires your email (“Register- it’s easy!) Try using a gmail or yahoo account for that purpose. Confine your important emails to a different account. Also, if you’re getting too many emails from one source, use the “mark it as spam” feature of your email and all future emails from that source will go into a spam folder. You can “unsubscribe” from an email sender but that’s a cumbersome process to deal with the problem. For close friends, try texting rather than using email.
19
@Kara Ben Nemsi
I have 5 different emails.
*One is for family and friends. Since nobody writes personal emails anymore I only need to check it on Christmas and my birthday, and mother's day.
*This is for utilities, banking, taxes and legal business.
*This one is were I receiving emails from those places I do business with. Like the Drive-thru of the grocery store, some other types of shops, etc.. As soon as I receive anything on this site I delete it.
*And the site where I get mail from my friends, my blog, and maybe a club or organization that I belong to and have belonged to for many years. I check it as I am waking up and then just before I go to bed. That doesn't mean I respond to anything I find immediately.
*This one is for all those sites that I want to visit but who refuse to let me in unless I give them my email. Like facebook, Westwing, etc.. I log in on the last Sunday morning of every month, while I am drinking my first cup of coffee of the day, and delete everything.
It took me about 15 minutes to figure out email was not the US POSTAL System so I could actually receive every single thing sent and tell them where they could send it. Works like a charm for going on 20 years now.
8
One addition: often the “unsubscribe” button does nothing more than tell the sender that the email address is valid (I’m sure you can guess what companies do with lists of confirmed, valid email addresses!). Better to set up filters to send email to your spam folder or just delete them. This takes time, but in the end it’s worth it.
8
I have to disagree with this writer.. I get tons of wasteful email..Some are questions that are ridiculously idiotic to the point of exhaustion. Most I answer and I try to be courteous but some individual are clearly rude and have no concept of the English language. Those are the individuals, that if they can't be respectful, professional and courteous, I usually block and send them to our special department called Trash!!!
3
The author makes too many and too limited assumptions about the nature of communication.
Email communication is no different than conversation. Not every point someone makes requires a specific response. Not every direction someone wants to take communication is appropriate or useful. You have no requirement to indulge every point with a response, and doing so is destructive to the result. Email is simply one way of having a conversation that can't be done in person.
This isn't a question of setting boundaries. It's one of making sure that communication is productive and useful.
1
I used to reply to every email that came into my inbox, many of the responses were either "NMP" or "NWINWBI" I have fancy WordArt versions of them. My supervisor asked me to stop when she found out what those meant; “Not My Problem” and “Never Was Important, Never Will Be Important.” I agreed for outside emails. For in-house emails that qualified for these responses I found it helpful to BCC their supervisor to keep them informed about how their staff was using their and my time. I still have the rubber stamps with those that I used to use when people sent out pointless paper memos.
@JJ
So right on! Had a boss that taught me to wait a 24 hour
period.
If the note was important, the sender would check in
to see about a response. Then I would reply.
If it wasn’t I would file it. Making sure it could be found.
Respond to all office managers requests like they are the voice of God. No problemas!
2
Answering email requires a systematic approach. One must allocate certain times only to respond. In between those bouts of email, one does other tasks. Without time allocation, a work day gets ripped to pieces and one’s work efficiency is degraded.
Cal Newport has a very different take on this, one which I think is correct. I strongly recommend his book: "Deep Work," which among many other issues with the modern communication zoo in which we live, addresses the problem of email.
If one's job demands a regular appraisal of the inbox, I suspect it's best from a focus and productivity perspective to set aside dedicated time to read and respond to them, rather than break up one's day and concentration through constant interruption, a process well shown to reduce productivity, create frustration and poison innovation and creativity.
To each their own, but my which approach is to have a signature line in each email reading thusly:
"I review email once daily and will respond as able.
Should you require immediate communication,
input or action from me,
Please call or text xxx-xxx-xxxx."
It has worked fairly well.
5
I am a creative professional. My job is to think new thoughts and discover new things. If I responded to even a portion of all the phone calls, emails, texts, etc, I would not be able to do this. I would look "conscientious" and probably make someone's automated HR evaluation list as a "good employee", but would fail at my fundamental purpose. Some people can "do it all", but I am not one of them.
I unplugged my office phone. What a revelation: it did not matter!
Voice-mail piled up and it did not matter! I only answer emails that matter to me. What a revelation: people who wanted me to do stuff for them have dwindled as I pretty much stiffed them. I give my cell number out to those I want to communicate with, and do not list it on the organization's contacts page.
I am happier. I am more productive on what matters most. I pretend to be clueless. I know not everyone can do this, but if you can...
4
Can’t agree. I’m a creative professional as well and it’s easy to keep up. 1 in 10 are emails I need to respond to. It takes 7 seconds max to identify and delete the 9 and 30 seconds to respond to the one. Answer or delete as they come in takes even less time. This is just minutes of my day. Hour long meetings to update my progress when a 2 minute note to the team can work just as well DOES waste my time.
I’m not a programmer but I can figure out how to auto send spam from the same source to my junk folder.
If I followed these instructions, I would never get anything else done. While Grant's points are, on their face, seeming sound, they reflect someone who has not worked at a large corporation.
There are far too many people take four paragraphs to convey what could be said in four sentences. If senders took two minutes to perform a little research, they could easily find elsewhere what they are asking of a recipient. Recipient priorities sometimes are far different from those of senders.
in my prior experience of working with a large multi-national corporation, it was not unusual for me to receive upwards of 300 e-mails a day. If I took just one minute to read each of those (and often I didn't know if they were a priority or not until opening and reading them), five hours of my day would be sent staring at a screen....and that excludes any time spent composing a thoughtful response.
If it is really important....pick up the phone and call.
2
This piece so overstates its case as to be rendered useless (and cruel). There are indeed jobs that require responsiveness to email. In my capacity as a teacher I make a point of always responding to my students and of prioritizing emails from my colleagues. However, in the second portion of my job, as a writer and researcher, email has become a burden that is almost impossible to bear. It constantly impinges on what little mental space I have managed to scrounge between teaching, searching for academic jobs and managing my own transient life. It also constantly takes away from the few moments I have to enjoy the people and places around me. I resent the amount of time I spend worrying and feeling guilty about email. I also profoundly resent the broad and syllogistic claim that since managers who respond to emails are more conscientious and conscientiousness is required to be a good worker, those of us who struggle with email must be bad at our jobs (and rude people to boot). There is a difference between selfish disregard for others and the effort to mitigate the emotional and laboral effects of a technology that has spiraled out of control. There is also more to conscientiousness than a blank inbox.
6
As a prompt email responder, I sometimes wonder if the ignoring of emails from higher ups in my company is a way of showing how terribly busy and important they are. Their silence is a show of power.
2
As a behavior scientist, employees will respond to whatever company culture promotes. If instant email responses are rewarded, that's what the employee will prioritize. It's not really about being conscientious or rude.
I once worked in an office where the expectation for email responses was roughly two days. If you heard back sooner, great. However, there was nothing out of the ordinary about having to wait awhile.
The practice was actually quite productive. You really had to plan out your projects for the week. What help do you need from whom in order to get your work done on time? If you don't get a response in time, what's your plan B? Getting work done was much more highly valued than polite email etiquette. That was the culture.
In another place though, the cc game had already become ingrained in company culture somehow. This is when failing to answer an email promptly starts a second thread with the boss and the boss' boss and the boss' boss' boss cc'd on the email. The sender just wants to make sure everyone who can possibly punish you knows you didn't respond to an email sent five minutes ago. Employees responded accordingly. They answered emails very quickly. Sometimes to the detriment of all other work.
6
In the days long gone, only people with specific reasons wrote the letters and mailed. And recipient was not inundated with 1000s of letters daily. He/She could read and find time to address the letter had raised. In today’s world with quick second access to ‘dictate’ the email and send it out in hundreds, it has become ubiquitous to send and receive emails. While some people may have ample time on their hand to read every email and ponder on it for questionable research purpose or whatever, most hard working people will find it a waste of time to go to mail box on their computer or phones and look every email and respond ,every hour on the hour. The emails have become more like door to door sales people or worse, the robocalls. There is No need to make up “fake etiquette “ that all emails need to be read and answered. People and with extension, society can be more productive and harmonious if all will give a break to writing and responding to huge number of messages/mails. Take a break from e mail/face book/Twitter and similar inventions of 21st century. They should wither a slow death.
6
Excellent column. Years ago, a boss actually criticized me for being too quick to respond to emails. She had no problem with the responses themselves, just the timing. But we were in a time-sensitive business, and I figured that if I was at my computer, I'd rather get it over and done with. Interestingly, other colleagues often complained to me that the boss often let the ball drop when it came to important emails. But of course.
4
Email has become one of the laziest and unaccountable forms of communication that exists, and the loss of productivity it causes should probably be calculated, because the numbers would be staggering.
I cannot begin to tell you how a simple email question, sent to 2 people and copied to another 3, often devolves into a trail of 20 emails over the course of 90 minutes. During those 90 minutes, if you have not chimed in to the “discussion “ the assumption is that you are being “rude” when, in reality, you would have been rude to the people actually in your presence if you had replied to the email chain. A phone call of 30 seconds would have prevented all 20 emails, but that kind of common sense logic is now scarce.
This is the worst in academia where everyone assumes that their email is the most important thing in the world, and “why do I not yet have an answer from my 10 minute ago email!” Being an academic, the author’s bias cannot be discounted.
8
Here is some better advice. Don't let e-mail take over your life. E-mail, like so many other modern "conveniences" has become a curse. Dear employer, sorry, I am not at your beck and call all hours of the day, everyday. I am not on the clock 24/7, I have other responsibilities and would like to have some semblance of a life, so please stop abusing e-mail to squeeze yet more work out of me. Pay me more, but more importantly, give me the time during work hours and I will spend more of it on email. The time of course needs to come from somewhere, I guess we will have to take it from the actual face to face time I have with people. Dear spammers, you have ruined e-mail, you have rendered it practically useless. You ruined snail mail with all the garbage you fill my mailbox with, you then ruined email, and now you're ruining cell phone service too (please stop harassing me daily about saving on my energy bill, it smells like a scam, and yes Emily, I am talking about you).
I am a whole lot less concerned about a few unanswered emails than I am about the intrusive, harmful impact the "convenience" has had on my life.
8
If someone wrote a note and they personally put it on my doorstep do I respond?
I’m confused because piece is in the New York Times but the writer demonstrates no understananding of life in New York City. The writer intimates that “I didn’t say hi, make eye contact or acknowledge your presence in any way when you waved to me in the hallway the other day. It’s nothing personal” would be a source of shame for most people but in fact is a point of pride for most in this city. And yet somehow our digital communication ought to be held to a higher standard than interpersonal communication? I disagree. The people right in front of our face deserve more respect and time than the 1’s and 0’s cluttering our inboxes.
Speaking only for myself (but probably most others) those 199+ unread emails in my inbox certainly qualify for the stated “general rules” criteria of not reading/answering and will go unanswered. And I’m unbothered if that makes me come across as not “conscientious — organized, dependable and hardworking.”
5
@AJ Michel
That type of behavior is extremely rude where I am from. If someone smiles or nods at you on the street here, you smile or nod back. If someone waves at you from a passing car, you wave back. I feel less obligation to respond to email from publicity and marketing firms than a friendly stranger on the street.
Is it it rude if I don't answer the phone every time someone calls me? Of course not. The premise of this article is absurd.
It is - quite literally - not possible to answer all email without applying filters to select the 10-20% (tops) that require a response. This author is about 10 years behind the times.
Good for him if he gets so little email he can respond to all of it in a timely manner. But he shouldn't claim not doing so is rude. That is - well - obnoxious.
12
There are an infinite number of "issues" about which workers are encouraged to worry. Email etiquette is a popular choice and this article provides a detailed list of the many places we can all go wrong in responding. I'm hoping Mr. Grant will pen a companion piece explaining why it's rude to pepper your colleagues with poorly organized, ill-considered requests and unnecessary demands. We're all busy on the job; think before you write. Oh, and consider making the occasional phone call -- many interminable email strings could be avoided through a single short phone conversation.
2
Just like regular mail, sending an email should cost something, say 1 cent and it goes to the recipient. There should be additional costs for "heavy" letters, i.e., overly verbose.
4
I couldn’t disagree more.
Just because you take it upon yourself to email me does not create an obligation on my part to respond.
Just as knocking on my door doesn’t cause your presence to overwhelm my ability to determine how, and with whom I spend my time.
8
Emails can be very useful IF the sender is clear (what are you asking or telling? What do you want?).
Bullet your questions (or just separate them into paragraphs).
If a question or issue is complex, send that separately with some helpful tag line so it can be found again.
3
@Katrin
yes!
How many managers send out emails, that are not clear, or make grand assumptions about how much the receivers understand of the subject.???
Then a time wasting back and forth commences.
The author fails to recognize that many people are poor when it comes to written communication. In fact, in this day and age, I'd say that 80% (maybe more) of people stink at writing simple messages that make sense.
I would agree that not responding in a timely fashion is rude and perhaps counterproductive. However, equally important to mention is do not send me unsolicited sales materials that have no relevance to my business and don't pose as my long lost friend when you do it. As in "Hi Jess It's been too long ..." As the new form of cold calling this is seriously annoying and counter productive. Often times a quick look at our website would reveal the product being sold is of no use to me. If the sender cannot be bothered to determine that, they do not deserve a reply.
1
I ignore phone calls, because no one that I know uses the phone to communicate.
Emails I never ignore; those are from the people I know.
2
I ran customer service (in one form or another) for a few organizations in my career. I always answered emails in a timely manner. Sometimes seconds after it arrived. I think this was #1 reason our customers were less angry and more forgiving when things went wrong. They'd say, "I know you are there for us."
Those interactions I miss now that I'm retired. Some see as a burden, I saw as my job and building of relationships.
It only gets hard once they start to pile up. I guess it also helped I type 90+ wpm.
3
I receive many unsolicited emails as part of my job, so the temptation to ignore them is always there. However, instead of giving in to the dark side, I've developed a 3-step process that seems to work well for everyone involved. If I judge an email to be relevant and worthy of a response, I (1) respond within 24 hours, either with a helpful answer or at least an acknowledgement of receipt. If I can't give the sender an immediate answer (because I need to read attachments, do background research, etc.) I (2) tell the sender that I will get back to them as soon as I can. And here is the clincher: (3) I also tell the sender to follow up if they haven't heard back from me in a week or two. You would be *amazed* at how much good will this simple response pattern generates. Even if I eventually give them an answer they didn't want to hear, they always appreciate how responsive I was in my communications. And it's much more professional than ignoring someone. Win/win.
4
There are times when email can become your worst nightmare.
Mr. Grant may be an organizational psychologist, but he seems to be clueless about the real world of business. In the business world, emails are forever. At work, your email account is not "yours," but rather, it is company property. And every email you send is a company (i.e. "legal") document. If and when you leave your job, you won't be taking your email account with you. When managing your work email, remember that your boss, the president of the company, the company's lawyers, they all have access to what you say today -- and forever.
Even if you use your personal account for work emails, they can come back to haunt you. Think Hillary Clinton! If you send out business emails on your personal account, you might someday end up turning over your personal email account to your company's lawyers.
Mr. Grant should bone up on the reality of email legacy and provide better "organizational" advice. Rather than droning on about the niceties of email etiquette, Mr. Grant should also address the dark side of emails -- those emails you sent that someday you may come to regret.
4
This article is a classic example of "you should-ism". Thanks for the lecture, but some jobs have much higher volume of email than others. Telling everyone that they're ineffective if they don't take the time to thoughtfully respond to the vast bulk of the email ignores the differences in people's jobs. Claiming email is central to people's jobs is also simply not true. People are responsible for specific job tasks. Some roles have high communication demands, some don't. Respond in a timely manner to mission critical email, get to the others when you can - or maybe never. Better yet, get your team and organization on Slack and avoid email as much as possible.
15
If we all managed to respond to all emails quickly, there would be corollary columns like, "No, you can't ignore phone calls," "No, you can't keep your door closed all day," "No, you can't opt out of meetings," and "No, you can't let work stress you so much!"
7
OK. Maybe its a good Rule 2: Don't Ignore Email. Its Rude. Still debating.
But you forget Rule One - The One Rule That Rules Them All.
Ready? Rule One: Don't Send Email.
Exceptions:
1) You know the recipient and wish them well and want to hear from them.
2) You have a specific, identified, reasonably important need/query/expecation/life-critical warning. And limited time.
Violation of Rule One obviates, not to say obliterates, all other rules as well as the Cyberverse and all its inhabitants.
5
Thank you for the insane advice. You have been reading Einstein’s theory of relativity holding that time can be slowed down. I hate to tell you but that does not work in this world. We live in 24 hour compartments!
4
It is a power game man! If you send me an email, you are asking or informing me. If I acknowledge, or respond, I lose power and prestige. Ask the kids, they have figured out how to have you see the dots on your text message, so that you wait. And wait. They have so much in their lives, they spend more time getting out of things, breaking appointments, disengaging, than they do in anything else.
It is also a generational thing. Millennials have lived in a choice filled world; adults asking them all the time whether they want something, while flooding them with options, drowning them in goodies. Too many choices means they don't want to choose. If you make everything available to them, and if it is convenient for them at that time, they will take the goodies you've got for them, otherwise just plain expect to be ignored. If you are giving them some goodies, or doing them a favor, make sure you ask them a few times, otherwise they are not interested. Their parents did this with them, why can't you. Meanwhile, they are checking their Instagram feeds, and looking into the mirror because it is a much better view.
So if your email asks for cognitive or behavioral engagement - you are out of luck Adam - or should I say daddy-o. Wake up and just plain go to Starbucks instead of sending an email. Or hire old people (over 60).
2
Typical Baby Boomer attitude. Millenials are just fine. They're drowning in debt and are made to jump through astronomical hoops just to get an internship in a field with a future, let alone a job. You ply them with decades of worthless niceties while demanding thanks, while at the same time making the essentials of life impossible.
Here's how you get a response from someone. Make yourself useful to them. Don't waste their time. They have real concerns and interests. Appeal to those, and only those, and everyone will be happier.
2
Thanks for your thoughtful piece that I did not read. My head spins from all the junk I get. I delay reading through it all because it’s painful and a drag.
5
Most people I know have dozens of junk emails flooding their inbox everyday. Instead of unsubscribing, they continue to get bombarded with garbage.
My guess is a tiny fraction of these emails need to be answered or are actually personalized to the recipient.
5
Need to communicate? Don’t email someone two offices down the hall. Pick up the phone, better yet, walk there! If I see five emails with the same Subject line and I’ve opened the 1st one and see I should have never been on the email in the first place...delete...delete...delete...delete.
2
Shortly after joining a company, I had a colleague boast of 97,000 unread emails in her inbox - it told me all I needed to know.
Email is indeed - just like texting - fundamentally just another form of human interaction ... and the same rules of real-life politeness and courtesy should apply. Reply. Just because others are rude and lazy doesn’t mean you need to be.
2
I ignored several emails from my bank that they needed a power of attorney letter from me. Went to buy a small grocery order and my request was refused. I was surprisd because I generally keep at least $10K in that account. Well it took a few weeks to get the bank what they requested. Here is the kicker - because of my age - 77 - I had to be personally interviewed to make certain my mental state was good. WOW
2
Don't let anyone ignore you, Dr. Grant! Granddad always said the first rule of politeness is to let people know they are being rude. Miss him.
Garbage take. The social norms concerning verbal communication evolved in an environment where it was not trivially easy to converse with many people at the same time. Yes, you *can* stand on that table in the middle of the office, shout your questions and wait for your responses; but do you? Email enjoys no such constraint. Two-way communication tools that function on instantaneous and many-to-one principles are simply a different beast. The notion that people ought to be obligated to pay attention to whatever you want, whether or not their total amount of expected communication exceeds a reasonable amount, is motivated reasoning at best — particularly in the context of marketers' persistence in co-opting every available communication tool as a vector for encouraging people to want, want, want and to buy, buy, buy. Are you really surprised that some of us have responded by logging out? If you want something that badly, you're welcome to tap me on the shoulder and chat.
8
It’s rude for people (or their bots) to send unsolicited emails to me. The time spent screening and deleting those messages reduces my productivity at work. Rudeness is called for.
2
If it's an emergency, call me.
An urgency, text me.
A matter to be taken up in one or two days, email me.
A week?
Send it via USPS.
2
Think of the workplace wherein an “email culture” existed that the new director vowed to get rid of. The employees all got up and started talking to each other, including updates that could’ve been an email. Soon everything requires a meeting to accomplish and your team is demoralized as their contributions receive group scrutiny and thus things grind to a halt. Email, like IM, phone or is just another tool in your belt. Being conscientious of others and yourself is the best thing you can do at work so do do what works. And don’t knock on my desk whilst me headphones are on.
2
Yes! I worked at a company that had so many useless meetings where the format was us taking turns updating the others about something. This meant that 80% of the meeting wasn’t relevant to anyone but the manager and I wasn’t getting work done.
I also don’t buy the I’m so busy response. You read this article and wrote a reply as long as your average email and it wasn’t work related. It’s not a time thing but more that people will focus on what interests them.
When people don’t respond it teaches me to stop reaching out. However if those same people complain that they aren’t being kept in the loop but aren’t suggesting a way I do that which will actually work then it’s no longer my problem. I tried to communicate and you made it impossible. It’s not up to me to figure out what shiny object to dangle to get your attention.
From the Chronicle Review:
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/is-email-making-professors-stupid?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_6
I don't think this just applies to professors! Those of us in fields requiring quiet space and time for concentration and focus are in trouble. The fracturing of concentration through the constant intrusion of external stimulus and inputs is contraindicated if one wants deep and meaningful thought on a subject. You can't expect a Buddist to achieve Nirvana without meditation anymore than a mathematician or composer to produce their works in the din of constant digital connectivity.
5
One of my favorite workplace maxims came from the late Helen Gurley Brown, best known as the publisher of Cosmopolitan magazine: "The faster you get back to people, the less brilliant you have to be."
2
I'll agree that ignoring an email from an acquaintance or friend is impolite. That said, the complete lack of discernment and restraint which is rife in the email-sending wotld is as, likely more, offensive. And: I owe no reply to anyone who sends me unsolicited email asking me to buy anything, actually or metaphorically.
1
"Rude" is a social construct based on articulated manners to which all parties have agreed. It is also archaic. It is rude to use the wrong fork, fail to stand when a woman enters a room, or speak in a disrespectful way to an elder. It is not "rude" to disregard any unsought intrusion into one's life, by defining one's boundaries. The decision to ignore, or more properly speaking look away, should be based on the willingness of the solicited party to engage. As in all matters, freedom of choice is the greatest gift we have been given by law, and by an enlightened spirituality.
1
@Estill this is not what he's talking about. he's talking about email from your correspondents. every public figure has to determine how to handle the from-the-public email issue within their means. most people working within companies don't have that problem.
1
@Eric Francis Coppolino thanks for your thoughts! As an art historian and author of several books on forgotten late eighteenth early nineteenth century portrait artists Im probably not qualified to have any opinions on the current world around me...bless you!
Nope ... interrupting people and their though process when they are trying to concentrate on their work is MORE RUDE than not responding at all. Email is an extremely soulless, impersonal way of trying to attract another's attention.
2
This article is already dated - people have moved on to text messaging. I have 8-10 (shudder) WORK text messaging groups spread across iMessage and Whatsapp. I never know who is in which group. This is a bigger nightmare than email
1
@vr I despise texting. I use it reluctantly and only if someone has no other way to communicate.
Being "good at your job" is extremely overrated. A job is just something I do to make money to spend on what I really want to be good at.
2
I have on occasion set my 'out of office' to say "I'm working on your project and ignoring emails", and have received only praise.
1
Emails? How quaint. You need to fast forward into the 21st Century. Email, while still important, is being supplanted by Instant Messaging and texting. It puts a whole new spin on the "running into a colleague in the hall or bathroom" kind of thing...
John~
American Net'Zen
An infinite number of people from anywhere in the world at any time of day or night cannot wave to me in the hallway.
1
First time in 18 years at the same technology company job that my inbox is just under 500.....I don’t know where people find the time in the day just to file their email!
Ridiculous. I generally delete unsolicited emails without reading them. I screen all landline calls before deciding whether or not to answer, and my Pixel 3 demands that all unknown callers identify themselves and their business with me before I answer the call. Unless I'm expecting a delivery I feel no obligation to answer the door when the doorbell rings.
This is easier to do since I retired, but the principle is the same: my right to be left in peace overrides your desire to conscript me into your plans for the day. I paid for my phones, my computer, and my house--and I'll use them as I see fit. If you don't like that, then perhaps you should punish me by never contacting me again.
6
Brilliant comment.
This is especially true for emails where the minimal effort required to send them to hordes of unsuspecting recipients has caused us all to have had our time and patience stolen.
You're totally wrong. It's communicating by email that is totally rude. There are four simple rules that will reduce your email by 66%. First, never hit "reply all." Second unless you don't need my input for a vital decision, don't send me an email. Third, and related to the second, unless there is a huge risk that I don't know something don't send me an email. And I could argue for points 2 and 3 they more warrant conversations anyway. Fourth, never send an email that says "thank you" meaning thank you you for sending me your last email. Email is the email problem. Pick up the phone. Avoid chain email responses that continually lead to misunderstanding ultimately requiring a phone conversation anyway. USE Today did a study several years ago that Identified that emails have an 80% chance of being misunderstood. So every 5 emails you send, 4 are misunderstood. Grant, you're a short-sighted, limited-ability communicator. Keep your eyes peeled for those emails though...
Öften you can get people to respond to emails or voicemails by notifying them "I want to give you a heads up I'm going to do X tomorrow unless I hear from you otherwise. No need to reply unless the proposed action is a problem for you."
2
So glad I am retired. Don’t miss the circus at all.
4
Before my well-earned retirement, I had a reputation as the go-to guy for answers/guidance on any given subject. I reveled in it. Ego booster.
That is, until I started receiving dozens, maybe hundreds, of emails each day. And many weren’t directly related to my job description.
My solution: unless it’s in my department or part of my job duties, act dumb.
And it worked! I handled my own job responsibilities just fine. On all the other stuff, I figured they can’t fire me for being uninformed on subjects outside my area.
4
Has the author ever heard of Wiggums? Epistolary Incontinence? Spam? Near Spam?
"WGGMs or Wiggums: Acronym for Watching Grass Grow Mails—e-mails sent to various persons, detailing in painful and frequent detail incremental steps in a work project. Generally sent to persuade people that the sender is in fact working. Symptom of Epistolary Incontinence."
"Epistolary Incontinence: Sarcastic term used to describe the excessive use of e-mail for all sorts of communications – though recently one politician in particular has demonstrated that other media such as Twitter can prove equally damaging. It is a source of concern for legal advisors due to the tendency of sufferers to say or confess unwise and potentially incriminating things, which may also be factually inaccurate, or in one notable case, undermine their own defence. Due to the difficulty of removing all copies of an e-mail from backups, local hard drives, etc., such correspondence appears with amusing frequency in litigation (provided it’s not you or your client who wrote the e-mail.) Often sufferers exhibit this behaviour in the form of Wiggums, compulsive twittering or posting to Facebook and other fora."
If you don't ignore them you'll go mad.
4
I've posted some educational content online. Many people consume it and want to ask me questions about it. For a few years I tried to reply to every email. After a while, it simply became impossible. I've had to put disclaimers on my website saying I may never get to your email. For a while, I felt bad about this. But, I've since accepted the fact that I have to protect my time, and now I have thousands of emails that will likely never be read or answered. I see no alternative, so I don't let it stress me out anymore.
Dr. Grant, you don't seem to have all the facts about contemporary workers. It isn't rudeness or being a bad manager if I don't respond to every email the same day I receive it. It's because the job I do in higher education is a job that would have been done by three or four people in earlier eras. So many sectors are under this pressure and have been since the 1980s. You are truly writing from a position of privilege that you think employees ignore email because they are rude or bad at their jobs. Shame on you.
5
“I’m really sorry I didn’t say hi, make eye contact or acknowledge your presence in any way when you waved to me in the hallway the other day. It’s nothing personal. I just have too many people trying to greet me these days, and I can’t respond to everyone.”
Actually, to many of us with extreme social anxiety and other related issues, this doesn’t sound ridiculous at all. It makes perfect sense. Please stop stigmatizing, try to have some compassion, and make an effort to understand others who see and respond the world differently than you, rather than ridiculing.
1
About 80% of my business as an expert witness starts with unsolicited emails.
So yeah, I welcome them. GMail's wonderful spam filters do away with nearly all of the trash.
1
Hey, Adam, I have over 13,000 unread emails in my in-box right now. Sorry if one of them is yours, but instead of judging me for not responding and pretending it indicates there’s something wrong with me, maybe just take the hint. I’ll get back to you when I catch up.
1
A significant part of my psyche wants to celebrate any incitement to civility, but this article feels a bit on the nose. I know the Old Gray Lady is wearing color now, but articles like these, however well-intentioned they may be, leave me feeling like the point of newspapers is to shore up one another's anxiety, to reinforce technocratic norms, in short, to scold its readers into a certain mode of behavior. Folks should be taken seriously if they prefer flip phones and snail mail. Quality over quantity or else the whole thing's gonna go down the tubes.
1
This article is a breath of fresh air after that horribly sanctimonious counterpoint a few weeks ago, where the author claimed that because family is important your email, by default, isn't. It's great to hear from someone who actually lives in the real world.
Email is like mail, but electronic. Think of it as “electronic mail.” If you need something quickly, call. If they don’t answer, text/IM.
1
Oh, I'm sorry but I was too busy to respond to your emails due to practicing my mindfulness that I use to lower my stress at work due to an overload of emails that are making me less productive overall.
What rubbish this is, I don't see how the NYT can call me rude for how ever I decide to manage my work relationships.
1
If Dr. Grant were actually talking to the people reading this, he would constantly be conceding "Well no, not spam... and of course not at 2:30 in the morning... That's true, a simple thank you needs no respone... Yes you're right sometimes we are legitimately overwhelmed..." In other words, he provided this wholly untenable broad stroke advice that even he doesn't follow, but that we should all feel like jerks if we don't follow. And at the bottom is a link to the opposite view, which basically says that you can ignore email if you're a mommy, and you should feel like a jerk if you're not as good a mommy as the author.
Here's my advice: People, find what works for you, something that balances your responsibilities, time and sanity, and do that.
1
I work in a traditional office job in a communications-based role for a publication. Those who disagree with this article have never dealt with my colleague who makes mistakes because he hasn’t bothered to read his email when updates were sent, or generally is too off-task and disorganized to complete deadlines. Or dealt with the senior supervisor who requests work to be done but ignores submissions with drafts attached or requests for feedback from his staff.
Sure, in some instances it might not be mandatory to get to all your email but when it is central to your job, it’s pretty infuriating when there is an unequal standard.
3
I loved email because to me it lessen the time spent asking questions and getting answers. And it time shifts all of this.
I spent maybe 25 years before email in technology and then another 25ish years with it. In the early years I had to find someone or phone them to receive the information I needed. A lot time wasted. With email I could most of the time get the information I needed without much time lost.
To all of the people who in business complain about email I found wasted more time browsing then doing their work. Just saying.
Everyone successful I know at a high-level in the corporate world is highly responsive to communications that merit such responses. That is all this article is saying. Commenters here seem to be taking offense at such expectations excessively encroaching on personal life, which is a different issue.
After trying my darndest to answer mails in a timely manner for the better part of my first two years in the job, I realized there is little value in even trying to do so when everyone, myself included, thinks their emails are critical (even if they really aren't in the bigger picture) and the value given to a timely response is at most three words (”noted and thanks").
And all the time you try to play whack a mole on emails there is the nagging feeling of a day wasted without finishing your own work.
I say prioritise which mail you respond to, and don't try to do the impossible. Unless your job description requires you to answering emails (say service support or sales)
5
I once had a colleague in a volunteer organization who regularly said she "didn't see" emails I sent. It was clearly a passive-aggressive tactic to do whatever she wanted without being held accountable. She also ignored important emails from external parties. But there are consequences. Such behavior breaks trust and creates a "brand." Her dishonesty caused me to lose all respect for her.
1
After seeing the overwhelmingly negative responses to KJ Dell'Antonia's article last month about how she doesn't have time to answer emails, I assumed the comments on this article would be much more positive. I see that I was wrong. I guess people feel passionately about email responses and are mostly inspired to comment when they disagree.
As a corrective, I will state that I was infuriated by Ms. Dell'Antonia, and I completely agree with Mr. Grant. While no one should expect instant replies to emails, a timely response when necessary demonstrates respect to the sender and diligence in doing your job (and today most jobs involve responding to email, whether you like it or not).
4
At any given time, you don't REALLY know what is going on in the lives of those around you. I'm surprised that a psychologist would commit a variant of the fundamental attribution error, calling a behavior with thousands of possible explanations "rude." Maybe that person struggles every day to function in the face of mental illness or caring for others at home? Maybe they are suffering a crushing burden of grief, anxiety, etc. that they can't discuss which makes it a battle to even OPEN an email in box for a period of time. Who knows? You don't. So yeah, is it a bit rude? Probably, but how about some empathy here rather than condemnation without full knowledge of the facts?
23
@Charles,
Well said and couldn’t agree more with your comments.
Besides, aren’t we supposed to dial back from our devices and disconnect and spend more time with our loved ones?
I assume the authors would advocate for this which would ultimately be at the expense of email response.
8
Mr. Grant should have more clearly distinguished between work-related emails and personal emails. Email recipients who are part of a 'group' mailing list are NEVER expected to respond unless the sender very clearly requests a response. Even then, no response is needed when the sender is a stranger who has no relationship to the recipient.
Personal emails are a completely different matter. By "personal", I mean emails where the sender has a prior relationship with the recipient, and the email is not part of a group mailing. With personal emails, the recipient should almost always respond, even if the response is just a few words, e.g. "thanks for letting me know" or shorter still, "thx". It takes only a few seconds to do this, and goes a long way towards preventing anger and hurt feelings.
Call me or talk to me if it's important. Impersonal emails are cold soul numbing means of communication.
4
To all the commenters who say that a phone call or an office pop-in is better than an email, I say, no, it's not. I'd much rather get an email that I can respond to when I'm done working on my task at hand rather than have my concentration interrupted every time a coworker has a question. Try getting any concentrated work done when you have coworkers calling or coming by every time they have a question. Calls and pop-ins are far more disruptive than email is because they demand that you stop what you are doing *that second* to respond to a coworkers need. And studies have shown that it takes a good 20 minutes to fully re-concentrate.
29
@Kim-you are right about this...I have taken to not answering phone calls, unless I see the name of someone I want to talk to.
I completely agree with the writer. Civility and courtesy to others is really important, and that includes email. It does take a lot of work to do, but it's worthwhile for yourself and for those you work with. In my job as a supervisor at a large bureaucracy, I got tons of emails and I stayed on top of them. On more than one occasion, I heard from staff how much they appreciated this, that I was one of the few managers who responded to their emails. To me, it seemed only normal.
9
"When researchers compiled a huge database of the digital habits of teams at Microsoft, they found that the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails. Responding in a timely manner shows that you are conscientious — organized, dependable and hardworking."
This is a such a total misrepresentation of this study I am surprised you had the gumption to link it. First study looks only at email response time between manager and direct reports. Second, it does not even pretend to measure manager effectiveness, only whether direct reports were satisfied with the manager, which often can be a different thing entirely.
10
Re, "No, You Can't Ignore Your Email:" As a general rule, I agree that one should respond to a personal email. On the other hand, we should not be expected to be forever checking our email to see what's there. Indeed, these days up to half of it is in the unsolicited "spam" category. A couple of favorite anecdotes, one real, one a New Yorker cartoon, are (a) the time I missed an important meeting at the office and was criticized with a "didn't you get my email" query, and (b) the cartoon where the wife is trying to go to sleep and the husband is in the corner with a light on and saying "just a bit, but I'm still cleaning out my email." If anything is truly important and urgent to communicate, and can't be delivered literally in person, I still vote for the telephone or the physical mail. And let's not even begin to get into the madness of smartphones and Facebook.
4
Many commenters are missing the message; it's important to respond to personal emails. A large amount of emails that I get are of department, functional, organizational, company, or industry news. that are essentially for your awareness only. Respond to emails from your boss, coworkers, and teammates and you will do just fine.
4
The trouble is that each item in your inbox takes up the same amount of space, whether it is high- or low-priority. Low-priority items accumulate so quickly that high-priority items get buried unless you constantly check for them, which is a huge impediment to productivity while at work and a threat to work-life balance while at home.
8
As overwhelming as a busy inbox is, it's a lot easier than office life in the 80's and 90's and the endless paper crossing my desk. It still requires discipline but it's of a different kind now. Email was never meant to allow us to drop the requirement of being organized or disciplined at our jobs. I love my folders and being able to prioritize things as they come in. My personal email I save for answering at home. I'm of the generation that were letter writers and to get a lovely long email from a friend who types 60-75 wpm is something to savor. Just not at work. When a zillion emails are pinging in my inbox...
4
Unresponded to emails really chap my hide. As the author says, a short , one line response saying you're busy and can answer in more detail later is all that's needed.
I have an email tracker that sends me an alert when someone opens an email and shows if they've clicked on a link or opened an attachment. Great for freelance work when trying to get paid as I can tell if they've received an invoice, and when. I highly recommend getting one for anyone who uses email a lot.
Finally, to the people who are saying, "if it's important, just pick up the phone," who answers the phone anymore? Leaving a voicemail is just sometimes talking into a void, as there's no way to prove you left a message. In some industries it's important to have things in writing, and it's great to have a chain of sent emails at the ready if you need to prove that you've been trying to reach someone with no response. How do you do that with voice mail?
3
Silence is a response. The recipient may dislike it, but that is her/his problem to resolve.
6
This may be a norm or expectation here in the US, but good luck thinking this should work in places where the relationship to time is very different than it is here. A great deal of my work is done in Mexico and Central and South America, where no such expectation exists. I sometimes don't hear back from people because a. they have made a decision that they would find difficult to communicate (such as not wishing to engage with me further as a consultant), or b. they don't have an answer to a question I've asked, or c. they don't agree with or want to do something I've asked them to do (such as schedule a meeting). These actions, or lack thereof, are not considered rude in these countries, but they can be extremely frustrating, to say the least, for those of us dealing with them here in the US.
1
Email is a very poor communication technique that is so overused that it now resembles the endless streams of advertisements that we endure in every medium. We need to come to agreements about what email is for, what it's not, and stop pretending it's an effective way to do business.
8
I'm not surprised at the number of commenters who think that Dr Grant should have written an article on the etiquette for sending emails. I agree that such an article would be useful indeed. Perhaps Dr Grant will consider it.
However, the article that Dr Grant *did* write is also excellent and I agree wholeheartedly with the broad thrust of it which I paraphrase as:
You should respond to all emails that merit a response. To do otherwise would be rude.
You don't need to respond immediately or out of work hours. Terse responses are better than no response. You are allowed to respond "not now" or even "no". But you must respond.
The trick, of course, is knowing which emails need to be responded to and, despite the protests of many in these comments, Dr Grant gives much valuable advice in this regard.
I am often amazed by colleagues who have thousands of unread emails and regularly declare email bankruptcy because they can't keep up. Dr Grant's suggestions WILL help you stay current.
1
In the workplace, it's very important to respond promptly to important emails. Most respond I would presume to emails from higher-ups. However, responding to direct reports seeking guidance or direction regarding important projects is critical to success for the leader, the organization and the direct report. Having worked for someone that didn't reply to emails, show up for meetings, respond to phone calls or voicemails, or otherwise engage, I can attest that issues are not addressed either appropriately or within the required time period, isn't good for anyone. Especially the underling (even a senior position). I know - I was in that senior position and the behavior of my supervisor caused me my job. The less senior person will be blamed.
It's sometimes human nature to misinterpret an email as critical, or even snide, so I end most email with "have a great day".
And... if I receive an email that makes me angry - I WAIT 24 HOURS TO REPLY.
It's amazing how much my perspective can change in 24 hours.
Have a great day!
6
Good article. I'm retired now, but email was a main communication channel when I worked. Timely answers were always appreciated by me and I did my best to respond timely. It is more efficient to respond timely than get another email with the same question. ...
As a manager or team lead, you get the ones asking why they had not heard back from a team member. Not fun to deal with.
In reflection on all of those emails that seemed so pressing at the moment. I do not miss them.
2
I live by one maxim. If it’s important, they’ll pick up the phone.
7
Of course you can ignore emails. Not those regarding your work or questions others know you can answer but constant requests from managers for status updates and meaningless reports can be ignored. It may cost you promotion but that’s a small price.
3
I'm sure that from the perspective of an organizational psychologist, there's much to be said for email. It's quick, efficient, and allows a much broader spectrum of communication possibilities in how the email will be dispersed, cc, bcc, to one, some, or all of a department, etc. But email pervades every aspect of our lives and it's no panacea.
Email has completely supplanted the old snail mail letter, and the loss of this has resulted in a loss both in civility and bonding, not to mention the necessity to consider one's words carefully not only for grammar and legibility but also for style and content. Worse yet and worst of all, email communication is not kept in a box and cherished as one cherishes old photos and mementos of the past. Email has taken away the legacy of our existence in large part because their will be no old trunks to be found with our old letters in them, hidden away in a dusty attic, just waiting for discovery by our grand- or great-grand-children.
I have dozens of letters from my parents, my siblings, my wife, and others that span more than 40 years and remind me poignantly of when my mother was still alive and pestering me to write gags for her (she was a cartoonist); of my father's boldly written, humorous, intellectual and incisive wisdom; of the desperate young love my wife and I felt for each other when we were head over heels in love and separated by the thickness of the planet between us.
In that same time I have zero saved emails.
2
Not answering emails is rude, and small business owners understand this. I am shocked at how many people do not respond to emails, and i don't write frivolous emails.
But worse, much worse, is that people are answering emails on their phones, and not reading the emails. When I send a client or supplier an email with a few questions, 90% (NOT exaggerating) don't answer or answer only one of the questions. I don't get that... at all. Their projects depend on this and in or contract I ask the best way to communicate, and still they do not read their emails. Because I am not a lawyer I do not get paid every time I have to rewrite or leave yet another message... but we are thinking of changing that so that each time I have to chase someone to read the dang email I sent them I get paid for my time.
2
Dear Mr. Grant, I assure you that I am not a bad doctor because I am slow to answer email. Patients schedule appointments to talk to me in person, and administrative functions happen at administrative meetings. The occasional email from a patient gets the same priority as a patient consultation, those emails get answered quickly. If colleagues need to reach me otherwise, they pick up the telephone or come to see me. Email is an excessive burden on everyone.
10
It is my personal experience and opinion that email is not an ideal medium for collaboration and communication. Email was created during the Cold War, before the various "Web 2.0" / "social-media" tools and services we have adopted within our communication cultures. I am clear with my colleagues and clients how I prefer to communicate. I also adjust to the communication channels preferences of others when necessary. (If someone is blind, deaf or needs the personal touch of interfacing in person.) I encourage the author of this article to re-examine what it means to communicate in an age of ubiquitous communication and pervasive connectivity. My opinion is that email is a phase in the evolution of how we communicate . Does anyone here remember "Google Wave"?
2
Dr. Grant: If you are working at a job that requires you to answer email in a timely and productive manner, I would agree with you. I do not, however, believe that -- outside a work situation -- one should feel the least guilt about ignoring an email for several days or longer.
Why should responding to email be privileged any more than responding to snail mail? Please take me back 100 years to those days when a reasonable expectation of an answer to one's missive extended to days or weeks. We may not have been more productive back then, but we were a great deal more civilized. And a great deal less stressed.
10
Being overwhelmed is no excuse? Not responding to email is rude? An employee who spends their day responding to emails is more conscientious? Those of us who receive hundreds of messages a day, excluding spam, may beg to differ.
With all due respect to Dr. Grant, I prefer to subscribe to Marshall McLuhan’s famous phrase: “The medium is the message”. I gauge the importance of the message by how much thought and effort the sender has put into conveying it to me.
This practice has served me well. If the sender considers the content of an email to be important or time-critical, they will call me, leave a voicemail or, ideally, drop by to personally engage me in the topic. The original email message becomes the vehicle for following up.
What’s rude and wasteful is the practice of tossing off email messages with little effort and expecting others to adjust to your priorities, all in the name of being ‘conscientious’.
15
Of course Microsoft is going to promote pressure to address the demands of e-mails......that is its business. And if Mr. Grant wants to shill for a company producing software that, among other tasks, facilitates attending to e-mails that is his right. My right is to use my professional judgment to decide whether, when, and to what degree I respond. If I have time to respond to every message urging me to join the company softball team because it shows we are model citizens I am underutilized and my time is being wasted. Too many broad e-mails emerge from upper-middle management as managers seek information they can use to enhance their positions by swamping subordinates with requests for data that make no difference to the organization. If you know your job you have an idea which e-mails merit attention and which you may, however regretfully, leave to answer on retirement. The hectoring insistence you address something RIGHT NOW because the person who wants you to do so seeks to have projects completed 2 weeks early, leaving you further behind on something to be completed tomorrow, should not be encouraged.
8
I am a compulsive email de-clutterer. Always have been, but not because I am so efficiency-minded as it just plain bugs me. By the end of each day I usually have five or less emails in my in box -- and often zero.
3
Me too! It’s really not that hard. And clearing things out of my inbox means I don’t miss anything important. Any email that takes a lot of time to reply gets added to a separate folder for long replies when I have the time to respond.
3
It's rude not to return new mail
I agree in theory about the perception promoted by this article, but in practice, I think this immediacy can be an immature way to ignore nuance, subtlety, and agency in one's co-workers. Most of the time, there is an inverse relationship between email urgency and importance. Most emails scream urgency, but they aren't really that important: people can look up information for themselves, a phone call will often correct mistaken irony or perceived sarcasm, the right people will get in touch with the other right people without you having to insert yourself into the relationship, and many group emails simply make someone else's problem a watered-down, bystander-apathy-esque means of passing the buck: "I sent out an email an hour ago, didn't you get it? Nobody else responded, so I didn't get the information . . . " And many problems will resolve themselves if people will be patient and involve themselves in real-time deliberations. Often times responding to email quickly turns a manager into a problem-solver that alleviates other people from responsibly thinking through a problem and being agents unto themselves. Electronic communication that is not urgent, but important, deserves a well-thought-out response and more time. But most email is the electronic equivalent of a public service or a "blue-light special" announcement, so responding quickly is like shouting in the middle of an aging K-Mart, "OK, thanks for the information!" And then not buying anything.
3
Your entire theory is based on this assumption from Microsoft:"the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails," - but you fail to define what an "ineffective manager" is nor do you take into account the cultural and technological differences within organizations, or the personality differences of individuals. Not everyone can handle the emotional burden of having to respond to every email instantly; and more, importantly, being productive and responsiveness to email are not dependent upon one another- we have a litnary of reclusive geniuses as examples.
8
There sure are a lot of defensive responders to Dr. Grant's article. Yes, some e-mails are not worthwhile, but you likely don’t know which ones those are, because not only don't you respond to any e-mail you're not interested in, you don't even READ those e-mails, do you? You just assume you know who is wasting your time.
From my experience working as an admin, I’m familiar with you folks. I've e-mailed you with important questions and received no response. If my question could have been answered in one brief sentence, as was often the case, I would not have needed to repeat the e-mail a day or two later, or make a phone call, often resulting in leaving voicemail (which, of course, means having to listen to YOUR message, and the instructions from the phone company about how to leave a message before I could say my 15 words). Or maybe my question did require time for you to respond to adequately, in which case you could have clicked reply and typed "Sorry, I'm very busy and don't know when I'll have time to answer your question", then clicked Send. And I would have known to look for help elsewhere, or find another way to complete my task, instead of waiting for your reply. But that would have taken about 20 seconds of your time--depending on how fast you type. Even that's too precious for you important folks (and of course, I’m understating the time involved; reading my e-mail would have occupied another 10 seconds of your time). Besides, it’s only my time you're wasting.
7
@gf Oh yes.....I tended to use emails because then I would have people's responses or guidance in writing. Some of the key people I worked with just did not respond, and I remember well the day I went round to someone's office, asked for permission to do something. When I had done that thing the same person who had given me the verbal permission practically wiped the floor with me for doing it. One of the reasons why I retired a bit earlier. NB I had a reputation for responding to emails quickly and efficiently.
2
problem here is that now people can contact us via phone, sms, email, whatsapp, facebook, telegram, kik, insta, snap, linkedin, skype... etc etc etc etc etc... at some point if the people can't figure out how to pick up the phone or get a face to face appointment they need to re-examine their social skills.
i'm a younger executive i stopped using email as the primary form of communication many many years ago. If it's important enough for you to write a personal email its good enough for you to call me, or get in touch with someone else at my org's to request a set time to talk.
2
This entire discussion has an important bearing on the question of whether the internet should be a public utility, such as a phone company, gas and electric, etc. Can anyone today simply choose not to have access to online communication, in the same sense that they can decide not to have milk delivered every day or decide not to subscribe to a magazine or newspaper?
1
I think there are more ways to communicate in the office than email. For example, my team uses a chat program (Slack, Hipchat, MS Teams, take your pick) for discussions, and project management software for, well, project management (Asana, Wrike, take your pick). Email is for the rest, and if you’re not talking to me about a project, and you’re not on my team, guess what, your request falls into the ‘the rest’ bucket and by definition isn’t a priority.
Email has become such an overloaded channel because it is so frictionless. It’s easy for the sender to shuck responsibility by saying, ‘didn’t you read my email’ when really the question to them was, ‘did you take the effort to actually communicate?’ And conversations over email? Terrible.
Email is for single direction memos and announcements. If you need to have a conversation, you need to put the effort into having a conversation. Sending an email isn’t having a conversation.
8
As a teacher, I am expected to check my emails several times a day. This is not only because important information about the school--was there a fight, are we on a lockdown and why, is there a student with a health concern--so an email from the muse, is there a student who is requesting a letter of recommendation? But the most important reason is that email is the easiest and most convenient form of communication for parents of our students. I am expected to respond within 12-24 hours of such an email. I think this is fair. I have 140 students per day...how else could parents easily reach me? By calling while I'm teaching? Or dropping by? Nope. It's going to be via email. It's also pretty easy to distinguish junk from emails that require reading and those which need a response. It's not the burden many seem to think it is. Sheesh.
126
Agreed. I also teach and returning emails is vital in communicating effectively with my students. I’m also a parent of jr. high and high school age children. I am teaching them to be responsible and handle their academics on their own. But occasionally something important comes up, and I need to contact the teachers. With no direct phone number and seemingly no messages ever given. I email my kids teachers, once again-only when it’s important. My rate of response from them is about 50% over the years; this includes a couple of principals. Infuriating since I do this myself and know it can be done, but I am teaching the kids how to deal with life. So, we find another way to get the information, and I tell my kid her teacher is a slacker who doesn’t respond to emails but that she better get used to find a way of dealing with stuff like this, because this happens all the time. At least my kids are getting life skills out of it, huh?
12
@Eva Lockhart As a fellow teacher I totally agree. However, I have a hard rule about not answering email outside of school hours and especially on weekends. With everything else that ends up coming home grading/planning/etc I don't feel it's rude to limit email interaction to during my contract time. I will admit I do break my rule occasionally when responsible students ask time sensitive questions.
25
How did parents contact teachers before email? They didn’t.
39
The best day of my life was my last day at work when I was able to select all the emails in my inbox (and sent folder) and hit DELETE. When I think back on the years without email, they were by far the most productive in my long career.
288
I've always asked my co-workers and subordinates to do five things:
1. NEVER send me a thank-you email when they ask me for something and I send it. It's a waste of their time and my time.
2. Not to send me an email that asks one question at a time. I ask them to save their questions and put them all together into one email.
3. Don't copy me if I don't really need to be copied.
4. When a company-wide email is sent, be careful if you're responding to a single person or a few people, not to accidentally respond to everyone. (Don't click "Reply to ALL")
5. Don't be afraid to stand up and walk to someone's office. Not everything has to be via email.
And I think you'll find that younger workers are sending fewer emails and more texts, which has its own set of problems.
175
I am a bit unsure of suggestion 2. If one saves all one’s questions for one email, there is a good chance not all questions will get answered. In fact, too often only gets the first question answered. Or the last.
54
@James Allen Agreed. I make it a point to tell clients to ask questions with separate subject lines so I can find them easily in my gmail box.
12
@Martin Brooks On
1. I always write "thanks" when I initiate an email conversation. Usually with an explanation mark. Or you could write TIA (thanks in advance).
2. Easier to read multiple questions in a single email, but as James Allen wrote, usually only a subset get answered. Some recommend using bullet list.
3, 4, and 5: Agreed!
Texts are great for really short messages, though I see the youngins tapping away in what appears to be full-blown conversations. Also it's much quieter, especially appreciated when in public!
6
As an admin/secretary who has been trying to support a director-level individual who thinks being over 60 leaves him free to pretend he just cannot deal with technology, thank you. I recently had him ask me six times if I had registered him for a certain conference, even though I had sent him originally, and every time he asked afterwards, emails with the details of his registration and travel.
It is extraordinarily rude to ask people to repeat themselves or, worse, almost accuse them of not completing tasks just because you have not been on top of your email. No one, including the author, is saying you have to respond to spam. You do have to answer your boss, your colleagues, and the people trying to work for you. Otherwise it is time for you to retire or quit.
6
OMG! As a former Executive Secretary/Assistant, you sound like you should work for a middle management person. Print out his itinerary and registration and leave it front and center on his desk. Have a second copy in an envelope ready for him when he leaves for the conference. Your job is to make his job easier, not harder. And, if you take his phone messages, create a daily printed message log to hand him when he returns to the office!
I am a Katy Gibbs Girl!
Back in the olden days, say the mid-nineties, I found email to be a fantastically useful tool; message volume was low and usually concerned matters of direct interest to me from people I knew personally. I can’t remember if we had yet begun using the term spam to describe unwanted commercial messages, but in any case, the incidence of such messages was low enough to not even rise to the level of nuisance.
Contrast that with today, when my various email accounts have been rendered nigh unto useless by the sheer volume of unwanted and irrelevant messages that flood in at all hours of the day and night. My least productive days are those on which I attempt to wade through the ever mounting detritus in my inbox. My most productive days are those on which I ignore my email entirely. That’s when I can actually get things done.
There may be those for whom Mr. Grant’s advice may be slightly useful. For the vast majority of us, though, it could not be more wrongheaded.
207
@David Salter
I couldn’t disagree more, he’s right on. My part is if people don’t reply in a timely fashion - my rule is I try to respond in 24 hrs- I stop sending them email.
I have a friend who’s worth maybe 50 million or more, I don’t really know, but he won’t make a nickel from me, yet he replies to my emails in a few hours. And he’s a busy guy. A decade or so ago I was helping him with a business plan and got to spend an afternoon practice pitching to one of his buddies, a guy who had just been fired from the company he founded that made a little electric sports car, Elon Musk.
Someone that important answers emails from someone as unimportant as me that quickly it’s a lesson I won’t forget.
Another friend once told me the true measure of a person’s character is best measured by how he treats the janitor.
31
@Garrett Clay If I can't get a satisfactory response from customer service I will off write to CEO's and copy other higher ups. I have gotten return emails from the likes of Jeff Immelt, John Stump of Wells Fargo and the list goes on. These guys must get a thousand emails a day, they delegate. I got nothing from Chrysler, after dozens of repairs of my lemon PT Cruiser. Let me tell you what happened there, my children, now adults, own Toyotas. They will never stand on the road again waiting for a tow truck and they like me, will recall and retell those stories. Cable companies don't want the people to cut the cord...hah, too late.
10
@David Salter
I disagree. The issue is not with the article but because you are probably using a less than desirable email service that doesn't filter out spam correctly in conjunction with using a single email (hopefully not work email) for all ecommerce transactions, posts, surveys, and marketing campaign sign ups. In addition, you can set up rule sets in email to re-direct and file email automatically if they are extraneous. Finally, unsubscribe and hold retailers accountable to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. It's really easy. (see below)
1. Unsubscribe
2. File the email you Unsubscribed to in a separate folder
3. If you receive another email from the same company, check your folder below and if it's after 10 days the original unsubscribe, send the company an email reminding them that they can be fined up to $11,000.
I've followed these simple protocols and never have an issue with 'mounting detritus'.
11
I don't think that the author has ever been a manager, or higher, at a medium-to-large tech company. I am not either, by the way, but I know that managers can come back from vacation and have several thousand emails waiting for them. And no, most of them are not addressed solely to them, and many can be completely and easily ignored ("build #167 was successful"). However the number of them which should at least be read, and perhaps commented on, is big.
Not responding to an email can the annoying for the sender but it is not always a sign of rudeness or incompetence.
When I really need an answer, and an email hasn't worked, I fall back on talking to the person as they are walking down the hall and pitching the need for a response to them. ;)
135
@PaulSFO
Every once in a while, people should add up the amount of time they spend emailing. Once they get over the shock, they then should think about those emails and ask themselves which of them were worth the time. Once they get over the waste, they should figure out ways to decrease the amount of emails in their lives.
11
I live in Italy, where based on a survey of one people in business are slow to respond to email if they do at all. Last year while searching for a new apartment I emailed 10 real estate companies in my city and only one responded. (My emails were in Italian.) The other nine never responded. I made an appointment with the one that responded. After that one meeting they never responded to another email. I assure you I was professional at the meeting and well dressed. I did finally locate another agency that did respond and find an apartment. What makes the situation all the more odd is that in Italy one pays the agent for their work in renting you the apartment.
4
An organizational psychologist should know better. For one thing, each medium creates its own opportunities, needs and etiquette. We don't write emails with the same formality as letters, because we al recognise that an email isn't a letter, any more than it is a greeting in person.
Yes, some people don't respond because they are overwhelmed and responding to everything will just make that worse (consider also that some are overwhelmed because they're doing a job formerly done by two people). The rest, at least those who lack assistants, know very well how to evaluate email, thank you very much.
12
I disagree with the premise that reading every email is actually a choice. There are just realities of time. If 1 person sent me 500 emails in a day, they would never expect a response to each one. But if 500 people send my 1 email, it is the same volume and isn't something I can control. At some point I have to take action on something I can control, prioritize myself and family, and pack up for the day after 12 hours at the office. My mental health being better when not working 16 hours will make the emails I do get to more correct, strategic, and meaningful.
17
At my only office job I received a email from the head of another department (I was a technical writer, she was head of the illustrators) who’s cubical was literally 15 feet from mine. The cubicles were only slightly higher than my computer screen, you could see every one while sitting.
I walked over and read her the riot act for being so amazingly lazy. She could have easily gotten my attention by waving as I faced in her direction. We were friendly and enjoyed antagonizing each other.
After I sent her a few emails from me saying hi or just making sure the email works she got the idea.
I wipe the spam from my two accounts daily. I have lots of filters on my account.
This computer stuff was supposed to make life easier? Oh and the office was supposed to be paper free. Ha.
Another job building airplanes wanted to be paper free decided that blueprints routinely used to build a airplane that are quite large could be reduced to a 21” computer screen. A 4 foot by 8 foot blueprint on a computer screen. Yeah, those Microsoft guys are geniuses. Their “our airplane will show everyone how it should be done” the Eclipse Jet went bankrupt after burning through 3 billion. If I was ever offered a ride in one I would decline, I know a lot about airplanes and a lot about the Eclipse.
2
It’s hard to be good at your job if all you do is respond to emails; it’s hard to respond thoughtfully to emails if you have to respond to too many of them. You can’t create more time. A policy to respond to all emails inevitably misprioritizes someone else’s desires for your own. Life is a series of choices - making good ones is key.
37
If it is that important a letter through the post will do -- mailed first class so that it’s importance is indicated by postage paid. Old fashioned, maybe, but what why do we require instant responses? Look at e-mail once a day, look at your physical mail once a day and then respond. Yes, this slows some things down, but it also adds the ability to use time to think carefully. If a response does not require some decent thought it will not likely be of real use to anyone. Devote and hour a day to mail, work the rest of the time. Be thoughtful -- that leads to being productive.
2
I agree with Mr. Grant.
The comments by readers seem defensive.
If you ignore/delay emails from colleagues, you will not be seen as a collaborative person. Networks and collaborations will proceed without you, however. If that's fine with your career goals, no problem.
If you ignore/delay emails from superiors, you will be perceived as a slacker or as a person who is not very dependable. Trust will be endowed on other people and projects will proceed, however. If that's fine with your career goals, no problem.
If you ignore/delay emails from juniors, you will be perceived as a mentor who is not very responsive or dependable. Junior colleagues will find other mentors, however. If that's fine with your career goals, no problem.
18
If it’s high priority - call me. We can all spend an entire day going through e-mails reprioritizing every request and get nothing done.
Then the interruption of instant messaging. Talk about inefficiency at its best.
8
@West Side 215
Different from me. Please DON'T call me. The phone really does get in the way of work for me. Email allows me to think and allows me to control when I respond to some extent and allows me to be more thoughtful and reflective. If I think a call is needed I'll tell you in an email though.
14
@lazlo toth And I've got a record of the exchange if neede
3
@lazlo toth
While I am thinking, planning or prepping, your email gets buried deeper and deeper into the stack of emails in my Inbox. Don't expect it to emerge from the stack anytime soon. Take a number honey, and and wait for a reply at some yet-to-be-determined date and time.
Come see me or call me and make an appointment if you need something from me.
1
This is an ease-of-technology issue. It is so quick and easy for a person to send an email at this point in time that any of us might receive 500-1000 in a single day. We have no obligation at all to respond to most of these. I don't understand the author of this article when he says that it is rude not to respond to email. People used to have to exert the labor of writing a physical note or making a phone call, which meant that they were less voluminous, but now emails are much easier, and as a result we are all flooded. How rude, and how rude for the author to suggest otherwise.
32
The author doesn’t actually care about email. The strategy is to offer a controversial idea like “ignoring email is rude” in a widely read newspaper, then use the high volume of disagreement to elevate your own name. It’s kinda like Kanye saying he supports Trump.
5
@Mark J- think you may be right.
What about all those "Cover your behind" emails? If senders were more judicious maybe more mail would get answered promptly. And if recipients used filters they would get less unwanted stuff.
5
I see Mr. Grant's point, but think it must be tempered by the realization that the average person, in our cost-cutting post-capitalist society, is likely doing the work of two people, or maybe three.
Therefore, prioritization is in order. And it may mean certain emails, or phone messages, don't get responded to right away.
Unless it's an emergency--and I mean a REAL one, not the "I can't find the document kind--returning a morning message by afternoon, or an afternoon message by the next morning, seems reasonable. Also gives one a little rumination time to get that communication down to the necessary essence. (We've got a lot of people out there who have no idea what is meant by "concise".)
30
I share the author’s sentiment.
As a bit of a neat freak, I find getting my inbox to 10 emails or less by the end of the work week is cathartic. It works for me and the sender.
6
@ThePragmatist
In addition - (i) those of you who don't type 80+ wpm would do well to learn how - it's a spectacular return on your investment; and (ii) as with all things if you can keep something moving in 90 or fewer seconds it's crazy to defer it if you don't have to.
7
I disagree with Dr. Grant's opinion, and it seems out-dated. Requiring a response to all unsolicited e-mails doesn't equal being effective or even good at responding to people. I think more timely advice on use of e-mail in organizations is 1. send less of it, please! 2. call first if its a new project or complicated request 3. use primarily to send reports, announcements, notices, etc.. and rarely to have conversations 4. if its important to you, follow up.
28
@penelope
I disagree with part of your disagreement. Unsolicited emails from outside work deserve no response. Internal corporate junk emails - I wish I had a filter. But call first - no, I'd very much appreciate an email explaining what the call will be about so I can use the call time efficiently because I had some time to reflect and to think of better questions to ask. The calls are far more disruptive than emails.
5
@lazlo toth
fair enough, although there are many different scenarios on why an initial call would work or the other way around. In any case, I disagree with this Opinion piece and feel like work e-mail has run amok (I work for a very large organization and some folks feel sending an email = doing the work....if you know what I mean!
No, I'm not "overwhelmed with emails." But I'm sure that those who are overwhelmed are very important. And, more than likely, they've worked at being "overwhelmed with emails" to show just how very important they are.
Me? I prefer gossiping across my neighbor's fence. Just me and my neighbor.
Ahh, the good old days.
4
Do higher ranking employees or superiors have immunity from professionalism and politeness? It would seem so, in the world of higher-ed. Rank or hierarchy should not preclude professionalism and basic manners, but in my experience it often does.
Have you ever been the recipient of a mistakenly sent e-mail chain, where higher ranked colleagues are properly addressed and others, less respected, lower in rank and power get a sentence fragment....no punctuation? We live in a world where our communication is careless, coarse, lacks respect and basic kindness.
Despite the above, I will always use a salutation, valediction and write/answer emails professionally. However, dismissive emails
do not require my prompt response.
13
I think many commentators here that disagree so strongly with the author aren’t in the corporate world where we are expected to be constantly in touch via email. Good for them but in my field it’s a necessity. It would be impossible to pull off the projects I work on unless everyone involved responded to emails within a few hours. And not responding within an hour (or even minutes) would be seen as very disrespectful. It’s not that I wish this on others but it’s those in this boat I believe the author is addressing this column to.
34
@Jay Russo"..aren’t in the corporate world where we are expected to be constantly in touch via email" No, they aren't in your corporate world and maybe for good reason.
2
@Jay Russo
If the work is so urgent, you need some collaborative software and instructions on how to do conference calls.
3
Your Microsoft Example: You conclude that bad managers are bad because they are not communicating in email. But more likely that a manager devoting himself/herself to a difficult situation is smartly ignoring extraneous emails.
4
If I followed this rule I would never accomplish any other task in my work day. Realistic for folks who are glad to put in 20 hrs/day. For the rest of us who desire to do other tasks beyond work such as raise great children or improve the world I find this highly suspect.
36
I agree this this article.
My work revolves around emails and replies from colleagues are necessary for me to get my job done in a timely accurate manner.
Leaving aside personal emails or spam, when it comes to work if you ignore an email you are negatively impacting someone else’s work.
21
what about a handcrafted letter (asking for 20 minutes to pitch a small collaboration), written to someone I know personally, and hand delivered to the reception desk of a small private company.
It's been 4 weeks now. No response.
4
@Dear peter,
Alas, welcome to the 21st Century where the handcrafted letter is as rare as the last snow leopard, but fortunately your email reminder helped to retrieve the above, lost in a stack of important documents, and will be brought immediately to the attention of the recipient.
Please accept our apologies, and rest assured that this will not happen again.
Truly yours.
1
This is great and all true. I would like to add that it is rude to have your administrative assistant handle ALL of your emails. I can understand many requests for information and basic replies; however, when you state that you didn't see that email because your administrative assistant must have not passed it along is a slap in the face too.
4
@Mike,
Not only was a prominent economist unable to answer his phone at the turn of this new century for lack of caller I.D., and in light of the Public, but when he was informed of the arrival of the 'Email', an order was issued to his administrative assistant to have a team of technicians remove the computer from his office immediately.
It was the responsibility of the above to keep a log of incoming and outgoing calls. A daily reminder was given to the supervisor of unanswered calls pending, and a five-day window to assess whether he wished to respond or not.
You do not have an obligation to read or respond to an unsolicited email.
When I was became manager of a new organization, I had one employee who copied numerous people peripheral to the subject under discussion so all these other people would know what she was doing.
I explained to her that it was disruptive to those on the receiving end as it forced them to open an unnecessary email (perhaps taking them away from an important task) and they often felt obligated to add to the discussion thus slowing down the overall decision making process.
It took me three months to change her behavior but after two years she went back to her old ways once I left for a different team. I believe it makes some feel, incorrectly, that they’re critical to the organization.
7
This ignores that perhaps some people have competing priorities such as families. It’s no wonder the corporate world is so unfriendly to working parents. Some emails will go unanswered and some people who are taking care of a newborn, an elderly parent, or just does t want to be tied to their phone has a right to prioritize. As soon as companies answer every single job application with a thoughtful response, I’ll consider taking g precious awake time to answer every email.
31
I spend 4 hours a day answering such emails, which are not really part of my job centrally but that are now somehow a societal expectation. Sometimes I forget one. I am so so very sorry about that.
6
I agree with all those expressing disbelief at the author's insistence that answering emails is important in and of itself. As with all things, I find that I need to be critical of emails. I only answer those that I think are worth answering. And I no longer beat myself up about letting "important" emails slip through the cracks. If it was important, then the other party would have found another way to contact me. Everyone I care about knows that email is NOT the best way to reach me if they actually need to talk. All of that said, one of my requirements for my next job is that it does NOT require me to answer emails. That should limit me to about zero potential jobs.
8
"Don't have the bandwith", "isn't in my wheelhouse"? What do these mean? As an old, old timer, whose non-profit executive career took place pre-computer (and with a secretary to screen calls), all I can be, reading this, is grateful.
19
@Ellen
No kidding. I am 31 and those phrases seem ridiculous to me. I can discern what the author is trying to say from context, but who writes/speaks this way?
Yes, emails are truly awful and disruptive, yet somehow I am supposed to manage this disruption to maintain focus and perform an intense, difficult job. I find the expectations of today's "workplace" to be in complete dysfunction with the way humans--or at least this human--operate.
I have nothing to compare my experience to, as this status quo is all I know, but in my field (I am an attorney), emails seem to be a great way for clients to interrupt my work on their cases, add to their fees (to which they unreasonably object), and on top of that, there is little collegiality among lawyers in the legal profession. Again, I do not know if this is how it always has been.
I recently quit my job over the dissatisfaction encouraged by our current cultural norms and pray I may find a job in another field. Such a disappointing reality for a creative intellectual such as myself...all my young life I desired a successful career and here I am already burned out. Just reading this article stressed me out.
4
My employer had it's own in-house e-mail with features I wish were available today.
I could recall a mail if it hadn't been read.
I could tell if it had been read so if there wasn't a reply within a day or so I guessed they didn't want to.
I If there was any question about what one of us was trying to say, I'd CALL them.
2
No, I do not owe you a response to unsolicited email. Sometimes I didn't answer your email because I'm off the grid for a respite. Sometimes I didn't answer because your message got lost in the 100 spam emails I get every day. Sometimes I'm just plain busy. And sometimes I just don't want to. And no, you may not take away my right to not want to.
78
Dr Grant, how do you propose to differentiate ‘legitimate’ email from the other (illegitimate) email? As a tool, email itself has failed for me, and I’m not alone. Recipients should be polite, but senders need to trim distribution lists to give recipients a chance and the Government should outlaw spam.
10
@David E there is a pretty good solution for this, have a look at Turing Mail / Credo. Offers a white list facility for people you know, with all others having to pay you a small amount if you are to give them your attention. Credo is the cryptocurrency they use for this. One of the only examples I have come across of a real use for these cryptocurrencies. Works very well.
1
Once upon a time e-mail did not exist. Really! So written communication required a letter. Letters took time to write, travel, and perhaps generate a response. I did not receive many letters. E-mail appeared, were easier to produce, transmission times were faster, and expectations regarding velocity of circulation increased. And then texting...... OK, I do not carry a cellphone. Students want to text me because they did not bother to make a note regarding something because they were texting someone else about something else. Sorry, I do not have a device for receiving texts. And I do not have a cell phone so you cannot call me. It may be nice to work at Wharton; I suspect Mr. Grant is not teaching 4 courses per term without a teaching assistant, standing in line at the photocopier, dealing with students whose parents were just deported, and dumping the wastebasket because janitorial service has been suspended. In any given term an array of networks connects me to several hundred students, faculty, staff, and others in three countries, each of whom expects priority attention. Part of being a professional is learning to make judgments and acting on that basis. Sometimes you get it wrong. Answering all your e-mails can be a handy protective cloak that says to someone with a drug problem or a time-sensitive opportunity that you cannot respond right now because someone you have not seen for 30 years decided he/she needs your attention to jump on the campaign for.... Get serious!
14
Yes, you can ignore email. Every day I receive emails from people/businesses, etc that is nothing more than pure spam. The first thing I do is delete the stuff that is unsolicited, of unknown origin or stuff I just don't want to deal with. It is just like not answering the phone when the caller is unknown or someone that I just don't have the time or the desire to start a conversation. I have better, more important things to do.
13
@JD Fisher Did you read this? He says don't answer unsolicited emails.
@JD Fisher, how should a stranger attempt to make first contact with you?
On a related matter, what’s your view on the priority of responding to voicemail? I recently called my doctor’s office to advise them (48 hours in advance) I could not make it to a scheduled appointment. I was automatically forwarded in voicemail where I explained my predicament and gave all necessary contact info. Twenty-four hours later I had received no acknowledgement and was stuck at the local hospital with my ailing spouse. I called a friend who happened to be near my doctor’s office and asked him to swing by and check that my cancellation message had been received. He was able to do so, but related to me that when he identified himself and the purpose of his visit, the specific person who I had left the cancellation message for rolled her eyes and communicated nonverbally that his visit was a unnecessary pain in the neck. My question is this: did I expect more in the way of response than is reasonable? Or, was this woman derelict in her response? Like most offices, my doctor has a posted notice stating that unless they receive advance notice a patient will not show up for an appointment that the patient (me) will be charged a flat fee for a missed appointment. I’m sorry, but experience has not proven to me that no response means my messages has been received and understood. Am I stuck in the past?
9
Seems to me your Dr.’s office is staffed with rude people. There should have been a confirmation reply with an offer to reschedule. You went above and beyond to avoid an unwanted/unfair fee in a time of extreme personal stress. On your next visit I suggest telling your Dr. (In a non confrontational manner) your experience with the staff as, if he/she is a caring professional, will wish to address. I hope your spouse is on the mend!
18
199 unread emails is not really much. I work for a big company ang get about 80 emails a day. For about half of them I can tell the content by just looking at the title. Many are just general infos to all employees or I get them in cc along with 20 other people. I am not sure you are addressing a real issue here.
9
no please no do not use the words bandwidth or wheelhouse
106
Square the circle
My profession requires direct work with people and daily local travel. In fact my job productivity is judged on how much direct service I provide people. It is not a desk job, though increasingly it's turning into a data entry job at a desk. My ability to answer emails allows others to do their jobs, yes, however, most of the time I'm not at my desk nor in a position to be checking messages. All of the productivity advice columns I read recommend NOT looking at email first thing because you can't get your own stuff done. I also think a lot of people have jobs where they are sitting at their desk all day so emails are easy to volley as they work on their other desk-based tasks.
11
During work hours, keep the inbox clear by applying OHIO (only handle it once) if at all possible. Most folks are playing ping-pong with you, sending items along just to get them off their own desks. But set expectations that you answer by the end of the work day, not instantaneously. You'll find fewer simple items in your inbox since folks know not to expect an immediate answer. If there's a thoughtful, quick answer, send it. No weekends or evenings unless there's a major deal happening in another time zone. My big boss was once very freaked out when she saw my empty inbox.
4
I telecommute to my job and answer all emails, usually within a few minutes of receipt, but always on the same day. Sometimes the emails may take me 30-40 minutes to draft as I am obliged to give complex explanations in a fairly arcane field. Yes, I am conscientious but I am motivated by the knowledge that each client represents a specific dollar figure and that figure is not small. In fact, it is quite large. My clients are grateful for the explanations but I am pleased because first of all, my email is a monologue in which if they dispute or doubt my position, I again have an opportunity to present a well thought out statement. And because I never delete emails, I can always refer to precisely what was said and when. If a client alleges they were unaware of an action, I can forward them their original email, my answer, and prove what was said and by whom.
17
I strongly disagree. Unsolicited email does not have at all to be answered. Same goes for the telephone calls "This is your friendly so-and-so ...", on which I hang-up.
23
Being able to respond to emails is job-dependent and to make such a statement strikes me as coming from a place of entitlement. Almost all the people I know who claim to respond to all emails have a personal assistant who assists and filters their emails, and/or are in highly autonomous jobs with time flexibility.
My experience is that everyone does the best they can with the time and energy they have, prioritizing as needed. Added guilt and demands are counterproductive.
The real conversation needs to be around setting realistic expectations for humanity’s newer communication modes.
139
@Kate McDonald
Very well put, especially the last line. Too many formats and each has users with expectations that align with their own perceived needs. Many of us are literally not on the same communication plane.
Whoever figures out how to tie them all together, including a feature that auto-replies “thanks for reaching out, please be advised that I’m not available via email/Facebook Messenger/unscheduled phone calls but if this concerns a project I’m actively working on/urgent matter I can be texted at (555) 555-5555 during my normal business hours for immediate attention. If I’m busy at my workbench with an important job with a hard deadline I may not respond right away but I will be aware that you are one of the many people tugging on my elbow and I will muster the patience to respond politely.”
5
Unfortunately, a large segment of educated humanity is living in an illusory world and doesn't even know of a basic element of existential wealth: personal contact.
Organizational Psychology is clearly a new sect, and Mr. Grant a digital prophet. I quote: "You would never snub a colleague trying to strike up a [face to face] conversation. Yet when you ignore a personal email, that’s exactly what you’ve done: digital snubbery."
Don't be trapped - existential wealth is not defined by being an "effective manager" as Mr. Grant asserts.
12
Thank you for this. Barring spam and inappropriate requests, it's common courtesy to reply to your colleagues (even if it's a quick "received, thanks--I will get you some ideas next week"). I can't begin to describe the time I've wasted by emailing 2,3,4 reminders to (and calling) people who can't be bothered, even when the email is concise, direct, and in line with their responsibilities.
One thing not discussed in the article is that this absolutely breaks down across gender lines--I've seen emails from women routinely ignored while the same email from a man is responded to quickly. When a person has to spend a disproportionate amount of time circling back multiple times to the non-responder about a vital business issue, it takes valuable time away from the task at hand.
6
No wai. You need to listen to manager tools podcast. Email is twice a day and otherwise a distraction from productive work.
@Gusted Can you point me to this podcast? Also, I'm not sure we disagree-- I am in favor of replying but that doesn't mean replying instantaneously. Breaks from email are good (but productive work often requires the response of your co-workers!)
Since the author reads and responds to all emails, I was going to send one.
But I have a very different opinion of email and how it works. If I don't get around to answering it, the reason may very well be like any other engine--I may be operating at capacity.
If you really need something, then do please pick up the phone.
Otherwise grow up in your insecurity in the realization that some of your emails may remain unanswered for a variety of reasons and to not read more into than there really is.
And if you find I'm tardy or absent in replay, take note that if you need to communicate, the phone may be a better route in the future.
41
@reid Each to his own! The phone can often take more unnecessary time with pleasantries -- and you have to reference your notes in the future. For work I use the phone only when a complicated explanation will take less time in a conversation than in writing.
6
No! Please don’t phone unless someone died. If it’s urgent, send a text. Otherwise email does a good job of dealing with issues that need to be answered today but not necessarily this millisecond.
1
This is a super bad take. People choose to communicate with you via email. That choice is loaded with the presumption that you check and respond to email with a frequency that is in line with their version of what's appropriate. Unless you specifically agree to this prior to being hired (my contract stipulates I check email once daily), then people can deal with the ramifications of those presumptions on their own. Any conclusions they draw are a reflection of their values, not mine.
342
@Josh Martin. Awesome! I’m a government employee that is required to answer unsolicited emails daily. My contract doesn’t say anything about answering email, so I’m thrilled to be able to say all of this to the taxpayer — they can draw their conclusions and reflect on their values and I’ll keep coming to work.
5
@Isavelives
There is a conflation within this article between directly work related email, and social or recreational email. They both fall under the definition of "communication", but like the underlying activities, the rules are not the same.
8
@Josh Martin Bro, super amazing take! But it's just easier to say, "I'll do it if I feel like it" instead of using that tepid "ramifications and "presumptions" riff.
5
I think certain professions are exempt from this. I’m a journalist and I receive so many pitches, many of which are on topics that I would never in a million years cover, it is not humanly possible to respond to them all and also do my actual work. (Many of them are more equivalent to spam than an actual email.) Even if I were to try to respond to just the relevant pitches, I still wouldn’t have enough time to actually report and write. I also get a ton of conference speaking/moderating invitations and so finally just put a blanket statement on my LinkedIn and website that I’m not doing speaking now because I’m working on a book. And still people email me asking me, and even acknowledge that they already know I’m not doing speaking right now! I wonder what Adam Grant will think of my comment since he also writes books but I personally find that the uninterrupted blocks of time and uninterrupted blocks of thought have to be protected, and so answering email is low on my priority list.
23
Fellow journalist here in total agreement. I get dozens, sometimes hundreds, of emails daily - often so useless that I keep a folder on the most bizarre for my future essay on the increasing irrelevance of email... Email is no more relevant to me than the flyers stuffed in my mailbox. I hate it. And I am so incorrigible on the subject that people who work with me tell me they are afraid to send me email. Good. I don't want to read their emails either... Email is a vehicle for distractions and demands that keep me from doing my job. The most "relevant" are from people shoving their to-do items from their desk to mine.
1
I view email as an important communication tool, but widespread abuse has turned it into a major impediment to productivity. I get such a high volume of email that I could spend my entire workday managing and responding to it without accomplishing any of my “real” work. Furthermore, the reliance on email as the primary mode of work communication leads to rude behavior in its own right (checking/writing emails during meetings in order to keep up) and is a constant threat to work-life balance. I prioritize emails from my supervisor, direct reports, and key external partners. I try to keep up with the rest as I can, but I don’t sweat it if I miss something. I don’t like being unresponsive to emails, but I don’t feel that I have a choice if I am to meet my other job responsibilities.
If someone really needs something, I would much prefer that they call me. This is what I tell people when I give presentations or hand out my business card. Calling is a more effective and personal means of one-on-one communication than emailing. It can also be much more efficient than back-and-forth volleys of emails for active discussions.
I wish the author had disclosed the number of emails that he receives in a day, so that I could judge whether or not to take this piece seriously. I certainly have room for improvement with my email organization skills, but I doubt that even an organizational psychologist would be able to keep up with my inbox AND actually accomplish anything.
430
I agree. I almost always answer my work phone when it rings unless I’m (a) not in physical proximity or (b) on another call. Cell is another matter; if I don’t recognize the caller, it goes to voice mail - if the caller chooses to go that route, which seldom seems to happen so leaves me feeling my decision has been validated, ha! But if you have a crisis deadline or issue, and you have my office number, call me call me call me! Email gets dealt with on more of an “as-manageable” basis but I will speak to people who actually phone me.
39
@Jen
Thank you for your comment! I rely on email a lot but in many ways it has made our work lives less efficient.
I, too, am frustrated by meetings that are prolonged in which no one gets the information needed or the conversation that is necessary does not occur because colleagues are checking and responding to emails.
Similarly, while email can appear to be a quick way to get information across we rely on it way too much. Often, we exchange multiple emails when an issue could have been resolved in a quick phone call or an in-person conversation.
And, like you, I get over a hundred emails a day. Some of them are crucial---others are not. Often sorting through these and jettisoning emails in which I have simply been cc'ed [because cc'ing is so easy now], ascertaining which emails need a response and which do not etc. can take a substantial amount of time---time which I could spend resolving real issues.
We all can undoubtedly improve our email response rates but we could also, much more importantly, improve how we use email to communicate. Nowadays, I feel no one uses the phone, despite the fact that the phone can be significantly more efficient. Instead, we exchange about 4 emails to set a time to call---and the exchange of emails to set a call can and often does take more time than the actual phone call.
16
@Jen writes:"Calling is a more effective and personal means of one-on-one communication than emailing. It can also be much more efficient than back-and-forth volleys of emails for active discussions."
Email is fine for many things. Would you really prefer all the emails you get instead be phone calls? Lots of times you call and have to leave a message anyway. Unless it's time-critical, it might as well be an email. It's much easier and more efficient to go through emails than voicemails. Some people have many phone numbers (home, work, personal cell, business cell) and you may end up having to leave a voicemail on all four. Sometimes necessary, but not fun. Then there are those whose voicemail never picks up. Just endless ringing. Then there are those whose voicemail is full (yeah, that happens with email, too, but not as often). And those who don't call back. And then there's the old phone tag routine. Writing an email gives you a chance to compose over time and proofread. It's easier to say bad things when you must respond immediately.
Use the right tool for the job. When I get into an efficient loop of back and forths, I pick up the phone. Then If that's not good enough, and the person is in the same building, I walk over to their desk.
6
“Your email is not a priority for me right now.”
Has this guy ever heard of priority levels? Multiple priority levels?
I am unimpressed. it's disorganizational psychobabble.
43
Many years ago, before there was email, a popular journalist and opinion columnist named Drew Pearson hit on a strategy of answering every one of the thousands of letters he got with this:
Dear Sir or Madam,
You may be right.
Sounds like a plan.
179
@Charlie B
The late Member of Parliament, Clement Freud, used to mix up the names of his constituents. After a few disasters when he congratulated people who wrote about the death of their mother, or commiserated on them getting a new job he hit upon a plan.
If they referred to his reply to a letter they had sent him, he would say truthfully 'It was the least I could do'
4
I'm going to try this tack.
1
I don't believe its rude to ignore garbage emails that are clearly a waste of my time, especially when its likely the sender knew this would be the case as well. If I responded to every email, I would do little else, and have nothing to show for it except annoyance, high blood pressure, and the awareness of how foolish I had been.
20
If it's important, talk to me.
When you get 600 "work" emails a day, none of them are that important.
130
Give me a break. Eye contact? What if you had 200 people standing around your desk first thing in the morning wanting to talk to you? At the same time you have a full day of meetings and scheduled tasks
What would an organizational psychologist do? Probably figure out how to make a PTSD case out of it.
96
@Jp This is a fantastic analogy!
1
I thought this was going to be a comedy piece. Turns out this guy is serious. That's a hoot!
Yes, I will continue ignoring most emails, just like I ignore more phone calls. I get far more emails and calls from far too many people I don't need to talk to.
These emails get marked as junk and are disposed of; the numbers get blocked.
Most people send far too many emails and make far too many calls.
37
Misguided. If someone does not specifically ask for a reply or give a timeline for when they request the favor of your reply, all bets off. In this day and age, where there is no escape from media, we need to take back our time and privacy, frankly, for the good of humankind and society. And if someone needs you urgently, its on them to call, call back repeatedly if necessary, leave a voicemail, or god forbid, get off their duff and walk to your office.
29
I think a better article would have been "Rules for Writing a Good Email So You Have the Moral Authority to Expect a Timely Response".
45
Yes, by all means, dutifully respond to the hundreds of emails you get every day. It only takes a few precious hours out of your week, and those hours only add up to a few years out of your life.
Don't be deterred by the fact that around 75 percent of the emails never needed to be sent in the first place. Keep wasting your life, and your employer's time, by plugging away at them.
Sorry, gotta go read some emails. It may be pointless, but I don't want to be rude.
133
I try my best to keep current on relevant work and personal emails, and I don' t think anyone who really needs to correspond with me would describe me as rude, but I currently have over 11K unread emails in my personal account, and over 2K in my business account. I'm absolutely deluged with stupid emails (even with spam and junk filters), irrelevant business updates I don't need to review, fund-raising requests from the wives of friends of previous bosses who decide I'm all-of-a-sudden their best friend because their kid is selling wrapping paper, email from departments I haven't worked with in years despite repeated pleas to take me off their distribution lists, and requests from clueless people at work who blast emails to group lists with dumb questions they could figure out themselves if they thought about it for ten seconds, instead of sending an email to 600 people asking what time the cafeteria closes, or where they can get a FedEx box.
I have three people at work, THREE, who I really need to keep happy. "No, You Can't Ignore Email...?" Watch me.
27
This article seems contradictory. Don't answer, answer, don't be rude, but it's okay to respond with "No."
2
Finally someone just calls it out! Its is not polite to not respond- and as Dr. Grant notes, no it doesnt have to be to every cold call of other unsolicited notes but where are our manners? I usually try to abide by the 24 hour rule- sometimes it slips but I do try. When I get no response- I kindly assume that my first note was “lost” so gently “re-send”. Its just civility as George Washington espoused. This article just made my day!
10
Dr. Grant - My guess is you are a lot younger than me, but I have a bit of news here, although I personally prefer email, for many people email is a long distant second to texting. Its quickly becoming like voicemail.....remember getting dozens of voicemails a day now nary a one?
7
Couldn't disagree with you more. All technology is there is to be used at our discretion and for our convenience not to be a slave to. By the way, I may not return your text or phone call either, but call me either way and let's see if your emergency is just as important to me. And there are way too many ways to misinterpret emails, bad for communication, team building, etc. And, you kids, stay off my lawn! Said the cranky 66 yo women. Hard to tell if that is serious or humorous? I rest my case.
7
Surely you are joking, Mr. Grant!
I am getting about 200 emails every day, at least 75% are spam. There can't be any more African princesses left who have not communicated their intention to marry me. That is not counting the dying widows who want to bestow their bank accounts on me - in exchange for giving them access to mine. Then there are the countless surveys I am supposed to do, the reps who want to pay unsolicited visits to me, etc, etc, etc.
If I were to read each of this emails, not even talking about answering them, I could give up my job.
Thanks, but no thanks. I am rude? So be it!
6
No. It's hard to be good at your job if you are responding to people instead of doing it. Emails are how people cover their behinds at your expense rather than solving problems in a timely manner with face to face or telephone conversations.
Where I work the second time you say "but I sent an email" your asked to leave (you were warned the first time). Also no cell phone are allowed on the working floor because they provide nothing but distraction in high pressure real-time work.
I daresay the Dr. Grant would be run over in my workplace, and gone by lunch.
Please notice how little actual productivity has improved over the last 20 years.
6
I like Adam’s perspective. His heard him advising 1) civility and 2) try to treat others the way you want be treated. A “no, thanks” or “sorry, I can’t” aren’t that hard, generally kind, take little time, and if you’re seen as conscientious, all the better.
2
I agree about answering emails, but if someone responded to my email with “I don’t have the bandwidth to add this" or “Sorry, this isn’t in my wheelhouse,” I'd gag on the bizspeak. For heaven's sake, let's communicate like human beings, Dr. Grant!
Just google "business cliches" and avoid them.
By the way, if a person responded to my email request with just a "no," I'd think they're rude jerks. You can provide a short, simple explanation for the "no" without resorting to "wheelhouse" or "bandwidth."
13
No thanks Mr. Grant. I will not be a slave to my inbox. Haven't you noticed that after a few days to a week old emails just fade away.
6
Respond. Your time is more important than my time. That’s what an e-mail is.
2
Totally disagree. Sending someone a note does not leave them obligated to reply in kind. People in this stressful world have to take care of themselves, and if that means stepping away from the inbox, then good for them.
14
I don’t think is very good general advice, given the varied ways people use email and the varied volumes people receive. Say he received 1,000 emails a day— if he chose to reply to all of them since they were all thoughtfully written, there would be no time to do anything else.
8
You never know how much a simple reply can mean to someone. I can not find the words to describe how I felt when I received an email reply from Noam Chomsky. I printed it out, and put it on my wall. It was just a few sentences; but I will remember them for the rest of my life. I think sending a sincere message first is imperative.
11
it is NOT rude to ignore email.. particularly from strangers or from people you have not previously interacted with. if someone is rude, it would be the sender.
that said, depending on the context, not answering email might be bad for business.
5
Ignoring emails is especially rampant with younger folks. I work at a university, and often get the impression that students never look at their email inbox at all. We often need to communicate with a large number of students all at once, a situation that email is perfect for, but we have that sinking feeling that only 1 in about 20 students will ever actually see the email. These days, it has to be a text or it simply doesn't exist.
11
@SLO Paul. I always state in my syllabus, and tell students on the first day of class, that "checking your e-mail daily is part of the required preparation for this class." E-mail is how I contact students if I need to revise an assignment, send them discussion questions, clarify something that came up in class, send them review sheets for tests, etc. But even with that direct instruction, I know that a good many of them never check their e-mail at all.
3
@SLO Paul
Completing a fun degree in Philo these days and seeing the poorly thought-out spamming of my student email in-box by college officials and profs with a too-easy access to copy-all-students email list.....
I am confident that your 1 in 20 hit rate is totally deserving.
The paradox is: with all the various ways to communicate with colleagues, effective communication is harder than it used to be.
Skill is required to identify the best medium, as well as to distinguish the messages that are chaff versus wheat.
There is an ancient principle that is even adopted in computers and software controls: messages sent await a response. When a response is received, an acknowledgement is due.
Don’t let an absurd volume and rate of communications turn you into a rude and ineffective communicator!
1
I must respond. Emails are too easy. Face-to-face phone and in-person contact is hard, not emailing, texting and any other digital format. See people. Call them. Digital life is extremely rude. Call people. Spend some time on the phone, or meeting with people. Emailing is rude.
It is no substitute for people on people contact.
4
I agree that it makes sense to be responsive to e-mails from colleagues and others with whom we have relationships. What irks me are the unsolicited e-mails from people trying to sell me stuff. No one has the obligation to respond to cold e-mails. I routinely ignore them and will unsubscribe and / or block senders who are overly persistent or who imply that I owe them the “courtesy of a reply.”
2
I've had plenty of my emails ignored. Employers who have interviewed me don't respond when I ask, weeks later, what's happening with the job. I used to work under a supervisor who made it a point not to respond to emails where a read receipt was required. It was too much trouble for him. I've also dealt with people who write emails that aren't clear enough and, when I ask them what they mean they respond with "Yeah" instead of clearing things up.
As someone who works (or used to work) in IT, it's hard to get coherent responses from people when they complain that something isn't working. Asking them a series of clear questions often elicits useless answers.
In my opinion email has become the latest interruption we don't need. If you're going to email a person there are certain things you need to do:
Be clear and concise.
Check your spelling because your, yore, and you're aren't the same word.
Don't apostrophize everything. In other words when you have a plural such as apples don't spell it as apple's. It's not the same.
Read what you're sending before you send it.
And please don't send emails in all CAPS. You're yelling.
33
Ah, unanswered emails - a pet peeve of mine especially when I would email an coworker asking her/him to do something (part of her job, like a finance person issuing a check) and get zero response. Then I'd end up having to call to see if she saw the email. Why is a short "will do" or "ok" so hard to manage?
6
Less of an issue in retirement - but in roles I’ve filled or supervised, a good way of closing some people down was to respond with “Your correspondence has been received and its contents noted” full stop (or period, as in the USA).
I think the real problem is timeliness. It seems that everyone wants to receive a reply within the same 5 minutes to 30 minutes to a question that does not require an immediate response. There is an increased expectation not that you reply to their email immediately. Many people want you to do their homework/research for them and respond with information to questions and concerns they could easily research or source themselves. I know this because at times the "must have" information they require internally is on our own website. If something requires immediate attention and it may not be evident in your email say so. Please note telling someone this is "not in your wheelhouse" will not work as they most likely already know this but understand you are too conscientious to tell them no.
2
Wow! I’m so glad you wrote this! I’ve been in a number of no response situations with some folks who are working on a project with me— and a number of them do not respond to my emails (my asking for clarification or guidance or to report in)— and I began to wonder if my own emails sounded too strident or too micromanagey or too competitive.... Like- we’re all working for the same objective- why are they not responding?
Then I figured it’s because they’re millennials? And maybe because I’m older than them and *too* communicative?? Is this a maturity issue? So glad to know I’m not alone in this dilemma.
Recently, an acquaintance closer to my age responded promptly to a question I sent in an email, and I almost fell off my chair, so strong was the breeze of a quick response.
12
@Jane W.
The answer about age & "communicative" is "yes." Especially if you are a woman.
It's not necessarily malicious; it's just how they think (or don't think).
This is a balanced take, but in my experience the problem isn't responding to emails generally (I typically respond to them) but the timeline on which I am required to respond. It seems to me that my day never ends, mostly when responding to young people. I recently had a student email me late at night, then again in the early morning, wondering whether I had gotten her email and reiterating her question. I answered, but the assumption was that I should basically be always on call. This is exacerbated by the phenomenon of people receiving emails to their phone - I never, ever check email on my phone because I don't want it to overtake my life. But more and more young people seem to assume that I will receive their email and respond as if it were a text (sometimes they are written like texts). I am now taking a step back, and trying not to check my email at night at all, out of principle.
62
@reader Agreed! I get emails off hours all the time as a high school counselor. I shut the email down after dinner and students need to know that if something is urgent, an email at 8pm is going to go unanswered until the morning. It is also not good training for adulthood to let kids think they can just email and get instant gratification. I think, though, this article is more about people just deleting emails and not answering which really is rude.
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@reader
I don't do text for the very same reason. If you're urgent, call me. If I'm out of the house or have my phone off, too bad.
4
I love this.
It is all true. I couldn’t agree more.
Unfortunately, for me, the number of emails and the depth with which I had to thoughtfully respond to each (a simple “no” was never an option) left me overwhelmed and in tears some nights. I still have nightmares (literally) about my inbox. Questions and questions, a deluge of characters piling on and on and on...
Which now makes me consider, every time, before I press send...is this necessary?
3
“I don’t have the bandwidth to add this.”
“Sorry, this isn’t in my wheelhouse.”
I'm just spit-balling here, but... we're not also obligated to use these cumbersome, hackneyed phrases, are we?
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The truth is somewhere in between. Yes, emails are a critical part of most work communication, and as a general rule, one doesn't ignore someone who reached out to them in a professional way.
But it's also true that the expectation of immediate responses is unreasonable. People can only address so many issues at once; something has to give. Moreover, many responses need some time to put together. If we answer off the top of our heads, we risk saying the wrong thing and creating a new problem to deal with, too. Then there are the emails addressed to a dozen individuals and it's not even clear just who is supposed to reply.
Emails, in many ways, facilitate the flow of information, but it has also gotten out of hand. For those who receive email even when away from the office, the pressure is even more relentless. Most of us are on both the sending and receiving end of emails; we should understand that the next person can do only so much, just like us.
19
I work in an IT department that uses Agile development. Instead of communicating within the "team room" in the project management app, everyone just sends emails to the whole group when only ONE or maybe two people can do anything about an issue. But I'm never quite sure if I'm expected to answer. The issue isn't email, it's failure to develop and inculcate efficient communication processes and internal workflows. Email is the symptom.
5
Dr. Grant,
Do you answer all your robo calls also? After all, you don't want to be rude.
-You presume that all emails are worthwhile. That is simply not true. "I'm too buy to answer your email" can mean "If you want to communicate something important to me, please call or text me, or do so in a way that is less impersonal." It means, "call my secretary because I am in clinic or in the operating room, with a client or in court...or Heaven forbid on vacation." And sometimes it means, "Your email is not a priority for me right now...because I have two dozen pressing concerns, and it just is not a priority for me right now." Life is like that, and not all of us sit in slavish devotion to our inboxes.
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I'm with KG.
Email is passive aggression in the workplace raised to the level of art!
Comments here confirm my theory: Unanswered emails are a "pet peeve"? (Red flag!) a generational thing? (Flashing red lights!) And, No I'm not a millennial.
How about starting with a course on efficient use of email? Things like, don't attach 15 documents when one sentence or quick summary in an email, or even better, in a phone call/voicemail or a chat program, could provide the requested info. Maybe devote a half day to the discussing the myriad of liabilities associated with hitting "send."
I agree with another comment that email is the symptom. But I'd also add, it's the problem, too.
7
He listed numerous types of emails that don’t merit or require a response.
4
@Pat
Agreed.
My favorite peeve these days is that I get a e-mail that says "read down the thread" for the information I need--which is usually and address or amount to pay.
Why do I have to read down the thread to find what I need? Ever think of coping & pasting the info to the top of your e-mail?
5
It is also rude to make endless unwelcome demands on my time. I reserve the right to end a conversation, even if that requires me to ignore an email.
203
Email is very 1980s thinking and unfortunately this is the second piece in the NYTimes today I've read that seems to be written by people who don't know or don't care to take the time to research technology.
Want to get rid of email? Use collaboration tools. Period.
Did you read my email? No, I did not, why isn't it in one of our collaboration tools? I have 10's of thousands of unread emails...people eventually get the point. Email is inherently exclusionary, you and your organizations to should seek to be more open with information.
As for personal email...it has all moved to texting of various sorts. I now have people I know who do not even have an email address. Why have one?
5
Exactly. Where I work, they use Version One for product development. But outside of that tool, email threads are exchanged, decisions are made, and you can't find those decisions because they aren't attached to the tickets, they're in an Inbox of hundreds of emails a day. Same thing at a prior job. The attachment to email and IM instead of the tool is beyond frustrating. Imagine that the only one who knows what decision was made in email gets run over by a bus. Everyone else who has to implement something is outa luck.
Email did not exist in the 1980s.
5
I wonder if the author got the average 190 right. Depending on who you ask, this number can vary considerably. I get about 75 emails each day, and don’t have the bandwidth to reply to every single one. Also, the author does not clarify is this is for work purpose or personal.
Maybe it will be good to start by saying what is the real purpose. Personal or work related?
4
As a professional I learned some time ago that people who discount your emails also discount your contributions and services. It is a no win situation for anyone finding themselves in such a situation.
When that happens I recognize it for what it is and move on. But I also never give any priority to that client again. They get in line just like everyone else. It's a two way street.
7
Very few of us who have ever - gasp! - failed to jump on an email are shirking our work responsibilities, with a devil may care attitude. More appropriate than this cartoon would be an illustration of a day spent addressing dozens of other emails, answering phone calls, responding to voicemails, addressing visitors, running to required meetings, occasionally trying to address our own immediate tasks...
Incidentally, also about that cartoon, if any of us were so lucky to have one lone email awaiting us, we would probably be a model employee and reply quickly.
56
Very good points here. Some individuals are fortunate/high status enough to have positions where they can work at their own time and speed and merely emerge to submit results when they are finished. For the rest of the world, whether they are managing or being managed, work is all about constant communication. That means answering email, and yes, the phone, and even stepping away from your desk, or looking up to speak to a member of your team in person. Sometimes your subordinate or your boss really does need their question answered, right now, and if you can't be bothered to respond, don't fly into a fury when you find that their solution wasn't what you would have advised.
4
Rudeness in the workplace and everywhere else is rampant. Where on the list not responding to emails falls is a good question. I am more concerned about the larger problem.
7
@Seattle You know, if we actually paid people a living wage, and assigned them only the amount of work a human can do in 40 hours, and hired enough people to do all the work that needs doing, we'd all be happier, more productive and would have a great economy with all that cash circulating. But the powers that be prefer a scared, overworked and underpaid workforce, and to hang on to as much money offshore as possible. I am fortunate to be able to opt out.
2
"It sends a signal that you’re disorganized — or that you just don’t care."
Neither, Miss Manners. I am highly organized to ignore rudely inconsequential emails from people who are busy avoiding decisions and responsibility by trying to shuffle it off on me. I care a great deal about that.
Twenty some years ago when I was a department chair, the university where I worked had this marvelous central answering service that simply dumped old messages off the end when the buffer filled up. I never answered the phone. People knew I never answered the phone. But that didn't stop anyone from leaving messages. They felt better expressing themselves. I felt fine not listening. It was widely understood that if it were truly important, you sent me an email and you'd get a prompt response.
Today, it's the other way around. No one wants to talk anymore when they can idly email or text, especially when one can simultaneously gab with friends and family about whatever while offloading real work via email or text onto someone else. So my organized, very caring response is the reverse as well.
Full disclosure: I don't earn my living in a corporate cubicle, where organizational psychologists can pass judgement on my abstract "productivity" or hive-mind manners. Sadly from that perspective, I can only be judged by what I actually accomplish.
38
Dear Mr. Grant,
Perhaps your next article could address efficiency with emailing. At my last company, we were copied on everything related to our team. Once the necessary messages were relayed, I recall enduring the obligatory thank yous, the your welcomes, the added jokes, and various other exchanges unrelated to my work. These types of emails are a waste of time and take up valuable real estate in my inbox and my brain.
58
even if i was engaged in an important project with an approaching deadline, i always made it a rule to answer email if it could be done in a couple of minutes or less. the true meaning of multi-tasking is not to be able to more than one task at a time, but to be able to interrupt one task to take care of another and then come back to the original task if necessary.
2
What's rude is sending me an e-mail, then picking up the phone and calling me to say "I just sent you an e-mail..." before I've even had time to read it and form a response. If I can resolve it on the phone, don't make me deal with yet another e-mail. I average about 70-100 a day, which includes a lot of spam.
3
Who decides what is timely and what isn’t? Everyone now expects us to be as quick as Amazon in all aspects of our life. Are we to let our inbox control us or do we control our inbox.
Too bad we now live in a world where everything needs to be done right this minute. After owning my own business for 44 years I no longer work with artificial deadlines. My time is mine and life is too short not to have a steady pace or even no pace at all and that includes responding to emails.
163
I totally agree that an email should carry the same weight as other types of correspondence and that serious emails addressed to an individual deserves a timely response. However, Mr. Grant does not address the primary problems that make this challenging. These include:
1. The habit of copying too many people which overloads everyone's inboxes.
2. Composing carelessly such that the message is muddled and in some cases the message received is the opposite of what was intended.
3. Using email instead of the phone to resolve urgent issues.
4. Using email in lieu of the phone for conversation.
5. Using email like a complaint bulletin board to either embarrass people or to shore up one's position or standing.
My rules of thumb are:
- If I am dispensing useful information that is best to be read, then I will send it via email.
- If I need something from someone, I will talk to them either in person or by phone. I may follow that up with an email.
- Carefully compose emails so that the meaning is clear.
- Never write anything in an email that you would not want published in a newspaper.
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@joe
Bravo!
These rules should be posted everywhere. They make so much sense.
5
@joe Your rules mean that every time you need something from someone, you don't mind interrupting that person's work on a time frame that works best for you, regardless of what your coworker might be doing at the moment have a need you want addressed.
By choosing to show up at someone's desk or to call every time you want something you are telling your coworkers that your needs take priority over their work, and that they have to stop their work every time you need something. Email allows them to respond to your needs when they can.
3
Not every communication, even in the workplace, is what it seems. Some are bids for attention - yes I am far too busy to respond. Some are ploys for social workplace dominance - go ahead and try to task me and see where that gets you.
DO. NOT. WASTE. MY. TIME.
Chat is even worse. Read this and grok deep.
http://www.nohello.com/
17
This is the kind of nonsense that I'd expect to find in a Good Housekeeping article. If you can reply to all of your email, or even care to, you're not in the game.
249
The point is that at least an effort is made. Claiming "I'm too busy" with not a small amount of pride behind it is something my entitled millennials do.
5
@Jon
There's a game? How does a player communicate?
4
@Jon does Good Housekeeping event exist anymore?
Do you mind if I ignore spam? Has the author never been subjected to a barrage of emails from a rude acquaintance who demands prompt responses to each and files complaints at being "ignored" when this harassment does not merit quick response. Many of us have.
12
I once sent an email to Adam Grant out of the blue (he doesn't know me at all). He wrote back promptly and thoughtfully.
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@Cantabrigian
I did also, with the very same result.
7
@Cantabrigian Good. Keep doing that. Maybe he'll eventually get enough email that he'll understand what the rest of us go through.
3
@Cantabrigian If you send an email to Micki Mouse you will get an immediate (albeit, auto-) response as well. And this begs the question, how do you know it was actually Grant, himself, who responded? For PR purposes, I would have an army of ghosts playing me for effect. Wouldn't you?
2
How about having limits on how much email an individual can send? Lots of the email I get is not really directed to me.
My job, teaching children, is generally a higher priority than email. It’s rude to cc everyone because you can’t be bothered to create your own custom list. In my world, email generally accomplishes few if any of the organizations goals.
Limiting the number of emails a person can send per day/week/month is an idea much more worthy of a column.
5
I feel about emails the same way I feel about phone calls: I am not honor-bound to reply, and certainly not immediately. With phone calls I *never* ask whoever I'm talking with to hold so I can talk to the new caller; it's rude. With emails I'll answer when I have time, on my schedule. What it boils down to is that I refuse to be instantly available to everyone. Those who don't like that will just have to deal with it.
368
@Richard and when I get a call trying to sell me something unsolicited, I have no compunction about hanging up, Also, I do not feel obligated to talk to a stranger who stops me on the street.
I do not agree with the author. I dont feel guilty about responding to people who have sent email to me and 100 other people, If it is someone I know or it is important I will respond. Otherwise meee.
Communication has become too easy.
7
@pat
Actually, Pat, you do agree with the author. Read the piece again.
3
@Richard
Let me know how you feel when you are seeking a job and have put a lot of energy and time into contacting someone. Let me know how you feel after sending 100 emails and no one even acknowledges having received your emails. Hopefully you never have to be in that position.
9
While we are on the topic of etiquette and the professional handling of e-mail, anyone who uses the salutation "Hello" without adding my name to it automatically loses priority. How did that become a thing?
1
@Peggy
I use "Hello" when addressing someone by their first name is too informal but the appropriate honorific is unclear, i.e., their gender isn't clear from the first name, and there is no indication that the person has a doctorate.
Some people refuse to reply to emails simply because they can. In particular, there is little to no supervision by supervisors or superiors in businesses/organizations of staff response to email inquiries.
Few journalists bother to reply; I am astonished when they do. As for companies, my personal rule is to never do business with a company that lets employees/customer service ignore sincee inquiries. Call me old-fashioned.
As for me, I always reply unless the message is electronic bulk mail, "Dear Larry" nothwithstanding.
8
"I’m really sorry I didn’t say hi, make eye contact or acknowledge your presence in any way when you waved to me in the hallway the other day. ... That sounds ridiculous, right? You would never snub a colleague trying to strike up a conversation."
I'm really sorry the author thinks everyone who waves is trying to start a conversation. The rest of us don't have to.
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@Thomas Zaslavsky
Yes, email is meant to be asynchronous communication.
8
Right, and the effort that goes into exchanging pleasantries is not equal to that needed for answering most work emails.
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@Michael Sierchio
Thanks for mentioning the main reason I like email!
1