A national study by Australia's peak psychological organisation has confirmed what most people know - e-mail is a major contributor to workplace stress.
Sixty-nine per cent of people find having to deal with a daily avalanche of electronic mail is mildly or moderately stressful, according to the study.
Two in every 100 said they experienced high levels of stress.
The survey, released today by the Australian Psychological Society (APS), questioned 500 male and 500 female senior managers, but researcher Amanda Gordon said the results applied to anyone with a hefty e-mail in-box.
Eighty per cent of those surveyed spent more than 20 per cent of their day dealing with e-mails, Dr Gordon said.
"For most people (e-mail is) causing mild to moderate stress, but that's in addition to the other stresses of daily life," Dr Gordon said.
"When you add another stressor in your normal working day it becomes cumulative.
"There are people who are consulting psychologists about workplace stress and as we talk about it we discover that e-mail is part of it."
Dr Gordon said e-mail was now the primary form of communication in the workplace.
But while it had given workers easier and quicker access to each other it had also become an additional in-tray.
Most of those surveyed said they dealt with between 20 and 50 work-related e-mails a day - plus spam and personal mail.
The ease of e-mail communication brought an unfair expectation that people could respond just as quickly, Dr Gordon said.
"People perhaps wouldn't have the cheek to ask someone to do 84 things in a day if it was face-to-face, but because they can just zip them another e-mail ... sometimes there are extra demands," she said.
As well as extra workload and urgency, people were also stressed out by concerns about misinterpretation of e-mails or about personal or sensitive material ending up in the wrong hands.
"Because you don't have the verbal cues of speaking with someone you don't always necessarily know what they're talking about, so sometimes people misinterpret whether they're angry or not," she said.
People were also worried about e-mail security, Dr Gordon said.
The APS represents 13,000 Australian psychologists.
© 2003 Australian Associated Press Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors. This is the ZDNet Australia TM service with content provided by AAP. AAP reserves all rights, including copyright, in services provided by it. The information, text and images in the service are for personal use only and may not be re-written, copied, re-sold or re-distributed, framed, linked or otherwise used whether for compensation of any kind or not, without the prior written permission of AAP.
This service is published for information only without assuming a duty of care. AAP is not in the business of providing professional advice, and gives no warranty, guarantee or other representation about the accuracy of the information or images contained in this service. AAP is not liable for errors, omissions in, delays or interruptions to or cessation of the services through negligence or otherwise.
The globe symbol and -AAP" are registered trade marks.
