Fast Company has a great article about how companies are helping their employees manage email overload. I love the fact that companies are starting to understand that email management is a skill that can be taught — and that teaching it makes employees happier and companies more productive.
Highlights:
- Capital One teaches a class on how to write better email, using specific subject lines and clear bulleted text. Result: 11 workdays per employee per year saved.
- Union Bank is replacing company-wide email blasts with topic-specific RSS feeds, and allowing employees to unsubscribe to irrelevant updates. Result: 30 min per week per employee saved.
- Reuters switch to instant message for things like booking a conference rooms, replacing a long, slow string of emails with one quick chat in real time.