We are currently in an 'always on' culture

Just a few years ago people had much lower expectations, expecting a response to their email after a few days or even a week. However today’s ‘always on’ culture has meant that many people now believe that it is unacceptable to wait a week for a reply.

Dr Monica Seeley, author of Brilliant Email and Email Management, said, ‘Today’s ‘always on’ culture of email, smart phones and social media means we expect almost instant responses to our communications. We pressure ourselves into thinking that most email has to be answered and often as soon as it arrives.’

Garth Ralston, business intelligence development manager for Aimia, said, ‘I sometimes get a phone call just 20 minutes after someone has sent me an email to see what I think of it. I also receive meeting requests 20-30 minutes before a meeting and the inviter is surprised when I don’t attend.’

Dr Seeley explains that we should actually wait a while before responding.  She said, ‘We are confusing speed of email response with effectiveness.’

To combat this strategy of emailing, Dr Seeley advises:

• Include a line at the bottom of your email to explains that you check your emails at regular intervals and not as each email arrives.

• Add an auto response to your email to give yourself a time frame for responses.