Staff health affected by 'aggressive' emails from bosses

Workers who receive emails written in a "threatening manner" by their boss or by a higher status colleague, experience higher blood pressure and anxiety, according to research published today.

The study, presented to the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference, concluded that it was "counter-effective" for managers to write aggressive emails as it "increases negativity" in staff.

The study, by Dr George Fieldman and Howard Taylor, at the Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, set out to determine the effect of threatening email messages on the recipient’s attitude to the organisation.

A sample of 48 students all from the higher education sector and aged between 18 and 48 took part in the research. Each participant was asked to read a neutral email, a threatening email and also to complete a 14-item questionnaire based on their attitudes to the organisation. Whilst carrying out each of the tasks the participants also had their blood pressure monitored.

Describing the results Mr Taylor said: “Although participants' blood pressure rose to some degree after reading the threatening email and the email from a superior, the highest increase was seen in those reading a message which was both threatening and from a higher status colleague.”

The results of the study come at a time when it has been found that many factors influencing staff health are both social and psychological, and relate to the style of management.

(gmcg)