Office E-mail: The Good, The Bad, And The Completely Irrelevant

In an earlier post I mentioned how brainstorming on the computer (using word) can help save paper, creating a greener workplace. Similarly, whether out of simple laziness, a genuine desire to conserve paper, or both, most offices, ours included, use e-mail to exchange quick messages, ideas, reminders, or compile data. Of course this is great for the environment blah blah blah… but there are definitely drawbacks.

Communicating via e-mail has many implications. It can lead to an awkwardly silent work environment comprised of hermit-zombies hunched in front of computer screens with ever-dwindling social skills. This can lead to more serious complications if your company is looking to recruit or relies heavily on the skills of its sales department. Sometimes, however, the exact opposite happens, and office e-mails are used for social and distracting purposes. Whether we’re talking about annoying forwarded messages (or worse chain mail: ‘send this to 10 people before noon or your computer will crash’), or pathetic failing attempts at flirtation amongst employees, office e-mail can be, and frequently is, abused.

But overall, office e-mail is a welcome addition to the 21st century workplace. It makes things easier, more efficient, and greener. Instead of walking down two flights of stairs (or in the case of our office, ten feet) to deliver a simple message or exchange documents, we simply press send. E-mail is also a much more informal method of communication and makes it easy to communicate and get to know one another. Plus we’re not really turning into zombies…are we?