Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to recognize the true cost of email
Speaker 1: so you can use it more efficiently. Hire and Email
Speaker 1: Management Program recently published a report about how people deal
Speaker 1: with email. Their findings are sobering, though not surprising. According
Speaker 1: to the report, the average employee receives a hundred eighty
Speaker 1: emails per day and spends of work time reading and
Speaker 1: writing emails in a forty hour work week. That's more
Speaker 1: than thirteen hours. As the saying goes, time is money,
Speaker 1: and the report estimates that for Bay Area employees like Hivres,
Speaker 1: who are earning on average a hundred forty dollars a year,
Speaker 1: nearly fifty tho dollars pays for their time spent emailing.
Speaker 1: In other words, while email may seem free, no postage
Speaker 1: or FedEx fees, no long distance costs, it's actually pretty pricey.
Speaker 1: Despite pouring considerable resources into email, we may not be
Speaker 1: getting the outcomes we want. The HIVER report indicates that
Speaker 1: email goes unopened and only ten of emails received replies.
Speaker 1: Email can be a tool for communicating efficiently and cost effectively,
Speaker 1: but as these statistics suggest, it can also be a
Speaker 1: black hole of workplace time and money. Even if you
Speaker 1: get your email time down to a quarter rather than
Speaker 1: a third of your work hours, a quarter of any
Speaker 1: given workers salary is a decent chunk of change. So
Speaker 1: what can you do to ensure that your use of
Speaker 1: email is an investment not just a cost. Here are
Speaker 1: a few ideas. First, before you click to compose, think
Speaker 1: about why you're communicating and consider whether email is the
Speaker 1: right vehicle given your purpose. Circulating an agenda for an
Speaker 1: upcoming meeting email can work well. Need to consult with
Speaker 1: your boss about a hiring decision, well, probably best to
Speaker 1: stop by his office or pick up the phone. Second,
Speaker 1: choose your recipients thoughtfully. More recipients is not necessarily better.
Speaker 1: The two field should be reserved for those who need
Speaker 1: to take action based on your email. The c C field,
Speaker 1: which means carbon copy for those of you born after
Speaker 1: night and was about generating a page that could be
Speaker 1: just a reference, can be used for those who don't
Speaker 1: need to actively respond to your email, but want to
Speaker 1: remain informed. Of course, this can get complicated because sometimes
Speaker 1: people say that they want to remain informed, and then
Speaker 1: they don't read any emails there cced on. This means
Speaker 1: that c seeing someone to get their TACIT approval is
Speaker 1: usually not a good idea. If you ce see your
Speaker 1: boss on your vacation coverage plan, her non response doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean she approves of your plan, or even that
Speaker 1: she's read it. If you want or need her approval,
Speaker 1: it's wiser to ask for it directly. You can send
Speaker 1: her an email saying, Allison, here's my draft coverage plan.
Speaker 1: Please let me know if you recommend changes. Otherwise, I'll
Speaker 1: email my team with this plan tomorrow afternoon. Now your
Speaker 1: boss knows that you want her to review the plan
Speaker 1: before you circulate it, she has a chance to weigh
Speaker 1: in on the plan privately before you've shared it with
Speaker 1: the team, and because you've said a specific time frame
Speaker 1: for feedback, you're able to incorporate any changes and circulate
Speaker 1: the plan on schedule. Third, use clear subject lines. An
Speaker 1: effective subject line let's recipients know the purpose of your email,
Speaker 1: including any action you're requesting and the time frame for
Speaker 1: the action. If you're sharing information or a document, the
Speaker 1: subject can simply identify what you're providing. For example, calendar
Speaker 1: of holidays and office closings attached. If you're asking a
Speaker 1: question or requesting feedback, say so in the subject then
Speaker 1: elaborate in the body of the email if needed. Your
Speaker 1: subject line might read request for feedback on client proposal
Speaker 1: by end of day Friday. Your recipients know what they
Speaker 1: need to do and when. Clear subject lines are especially
Speaker 1: helpful when recipients are scanning email on a phone, which
Speaker 1: is what a lot of people are doing these days.
Speaker 1: They can identify any messages that need to be processed quickly.
Speaker 1: They can tell exactly what's needed and when, even before
Speaker 1: opening the message. Finally, don't bury your lead in the
Speaker 1: body of your email, just like in your subject line,
Speaker 1: make it clear why you're emailing and what your recipient
Speaker 1: needs to do. Mike, I'm writing to get your insights
Speaker 1: about an issue with tomorrow's presentation. I'd appreciate your thoughts
Speaker 1: by email or phone, and I'll be available all afternoon.
Speaker 1: You can offer a quick outline of the questions you're
Speaker 1: grappling with after this introduction, in case Mike wants more context.
Speaker 1: But Mike immediately knows what you're asking for without reading
Speaker 1: to the bottom of a long message. Which he might
Speaker 1: not do. So if he doesn't have to read to
Speaker 1: the bottom, he's more likely to give you the support
Speaker 1: you want. There's been much debate about the future of email,
Speaker 1: but at the moment it's still a fixture of the workplace.
Speaker 1: And if you're spending a third of your time emailing,
Speaker 1: you want to ensure that's time and money will spent.
Speaker 1: You want to be sure you're achieving more with less distraction,
Speaker 1: because that's a message that we're all glad to get.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
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