E-mail is officially the number one channel for office flirtations

Research carried out by email marketing company, edesigns.co.uk, has revealed that email is officially the number one channel for office indiscretions.

The traditional centre of work-time flirtations and office gossip has officially been made redundant as a new home for office fun and frolics has been born, and it’s getting just as hot and steamy.

Surprisingly it is male office workers who are the prime offenders when it comes to using email to spice up their work lives. Over a third of all men surveyed admitted to spending more than 40 minutes of each working day flirting or gossiping via email. By comparison, only 13 per cent of women admitted to using email to flirt with their colleagues, many increasingly cautious.

Women are still guilty of misusing this electronic medium. Over a third of all women surveyed use email for over two hours or more a week to plan their weekends, social life or to contact friends.

Commenting on the research, Louis Halpern, CEO of edesigns.co.uk and co-founder of Email Marketing Association (eMMa) said: “Although the research shows some quirky results, there is still an important issue concerning misuse of email at work. As email is a quick and simple form of communication, companies are losing precious work-hours as a result of email abuse.

“It seems that men and women are just as bad as one another for misusing email at work. We suggest that managers adopt a definite email policy defining acceptable parameters for email usage. Such information can be communicated in employment contracts, manuals and via Intranets.

“Whilst companies should not deny staff a reasonable amount of time to conduct personal affairs, companies can protect themselves by providing employees with access to personal emails – either web-based addresses, or using branded emails to distinguish between work and personal emails. Managers should also make employees aware of any changes to email policy, and make sure they are monitored.” (CD)