Millenials like to practice ‘Inbox Zero’ — unread emails get them anxious

• A latest survey by email collaboration platform Hiver shows that unread emails make people anxious.
  
• Two in five millenials get uncomfortable if they don't get to check their work email for four hours straight.
  
• In fact, the younger generation no longer wakes up to emails. The first app that they check on their phones is Whatsapp.
  
• Employees receive close to 180 emails on a daily basis — and 13% of these are forwarded ones. But the reply rate is merely 16%.

While an average employee doesn’t bother to open 40% of the emails he receives, a latest survey by email collaboration platform Hiver shows that unread emails turn people anxious.

Millennials today are practicing ‘Inbox Zero’ — which refers to nearly empty inboxes at all times. According to the survey that analysed email checking habits among professionals, two in five millenials get uncomfortable if they don't get to check their work email for four hours straight.

The survey highlights that the email behavioural patterns are also known to affect employee productivity. They prefer their mails to be ‘to-the-point’ — longer the email, more it impacts the productivity of employees negatively.

In fact, the younger generation no longer wakes up to emails. The first app that they check on their phones is Whatsapp followed by other social media apps like Facebook and Instagram.

However, three in five millennials responded that emails can be a substitute for long workplace meetings.

On the flipside, employees receive close to 180 emails daily — and 13% of them are forwarded ones. But the reply rate is merely 16%. This is because of the irresponsible "Cc'ing" habit, which has become a standard in almost all emails — for updating people on projects and keeping managers in loop.

“Email clearly remains an essential and popular way of communicating, but there are a number of findings from the Hiver report that indicates that it is broken and requires a significant rehaul," said Niraj Rout, co-founder and CEO of Hiver.

Hiver helps teams manage shared email accounts by giving every incoming email an owner and a status.

See also:
Indian employees do not even open two of the five emails they receive daily