Professional emails scrutinized. In a survey published Thursday, November 14 by the Flashs institute for Hotinger.fr, 1,000 employees and 1,000 French business leaders were questioned about their email exchanges in the context of work.
Some 362 billion emails are exchanged every day around the world, according to a 2023 study by Radicati Group, a British technology research institute, and a vast majority of these emails are sent for professional reasons. It appears that it is more difficult for managers to disconnect, that the use of artificial intelligence is becoming more widespread, that the use of emojis is not necessarily well received and that comments of a sexist nature are also expressed at through professional emails.
According to this survey, 18% of employees and 34% of business leaders in the tertiary sector receive more than 50 professional emails per day. Half (52%) of business leaders spend more than an hour each day processing their emails, compared to 37% among employees.
Employees and managers are far from fully enjoying their right to disconnect, even though it has been enshrined in French law since 2017. A majority of people questioned in the study connect to their professional email outside of working hours. 67% of them consult it in the evening, on weekends or during their holidays, more than a third (37%) always or regularly do so. At the same time, 62% of employees and 75% of managers say they feel stress when opening their professional email upon returning from vacation.
There is a phenomenon of “omnipresent work”, according to Léa Paolacci, research manager at Flashs, which particularly affects younger generations. They are more inclined than their elders to consult and write emails even when they are not working. This translates “a break with traditional expectations of work-life balance”notes Léa Paolacci who carried out this survey.
The use of artificial intelligence is becoming more widespread in the world of work. Nearly 4 in 10 employees (39%) and more than half of managers (55%) use AI to write their professional emails. Concerning emojis, they are used more by men (51% compared to 43% for women). Using it in a professional email is considered inappropriate, especially by women (40%, compared to 32% for men). According to them, emojis denote a lack of credibility.
Concerning the ends of emails, “cordially” is voted the most annoying polite expression (21%). The people questioned also place “looking forward to reading you” (14%) and “distinguished greetings” (13%) on the podium of unloved formulas.
One in three women interviewed and one in two young women (aged 18 to 24) have already received inappropriate emails. It may be “proposals for meetings outside of a professional context, requests for personal or intimate information, compliments or strong flattery”explains Léa Paolacci. Among these inappropriate emails, 19% have sexually explicit content for women.
Nearly half (46%) of them perceived their professional skills to be called into question because of their gender. “The intrusion of inappropriate content into professional messaging reflects persistent gender inequalities in the digital workspace, where violence, sometimes subtle, continues to permeate professional interactions”underlines Léa Paolacci.
Methodology:
Survey carried out by FLASHS for Hostinger.fr from August 23 to 29, 2024 by self-administered online questionnaire among a double panel of 1,000 employees in the tertiary sector, aged 18 and over, representative of this population and 1,000 business leaders and managers in the tertiary sector, aged 18 and over, representative of this population.
