Here's a statistic that will put the cost of that off-topic email blast into context: 28 percent of the average employee's workday is spent reading and responding to email. Indeed, the only activity in a worker's day more time-consuming than email is her role-specific duties, to which she devotes 39 percent of her day.
These figures come from a survey by McKinsey Global Institute and International Data Corp., who also say that integrating social networking communications to a company's workflow can cut the time spent on email by 25 to 30 percent. This in turn would free up 7 to 8 percent of the workweek -- over two hours, if we assume an eight-hour workday.
Another fun fact from the McKinsey survey, courtesy of Mashable? In the U.S., we spend an average of 11 hours each day consuming and communicating and consuming messages in person. That includes the time we spend on email, reading and watching television.
Are you surprised by how much of our workday revolves around email?
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(Photo credit:
McKinsey Global Institute/Mashable)