Best practices for avoiding email overload with Viva Insights
Important
This article is for the legacy Workplace Analytics app and does not reflect functionality available on the updated Viva Insights platform. Access current documentation for Viva Insights advanced insights here: advanced insights documentation.
Email is the most widely used collaboration tool with an estimated 110 billion messages sent daily. Despite the benefits, email can become overwhelming to manage. It steals your attention and leads to higher stress levels.
Better email practices can reduce stress, improve communication, boost productivity, and support your ability to focus.
Why it matters
How to spend way less time on email every day explains how:
- "The average professional spends 28 percent of the work day reading and answering email, according to a McKinsey analysis."
- "On average, professionals check their email 15 times per day, or every 37 minutes."
Best practices
- Designate a communication channel that is intended for urgent messages.
- Enable employees to disconnect from email after work. If something urgent comes up, they can be reached by the alternative channels.
- Set clear expectations and urge management to set the right example for the rest of the organization.
- Write email the way you want to read them. Keep them short, use simple language and avoid long blocks of text
- Don’t “bury the lead.” Write the important message and/or question first in your email followed by any critical background
- Don’t overuse the “Cc” field by thoughtfully selecting recipients based on role and resist pressure to be over-inclusive.
- Make concrete suggestions with specific times, locations, and deadlines to reduce unnecessary back-and-forth.
- Send fewer emails to receive fewer emails by strategically considering different mediums (the phone, a meeting, or chat) for your message.
- Avoid “reply-all” by considering your role in the thread and sending targeted messages instead.
- Batch process email by selecting two or three times per day to process email, instead of checking email constantly throughout the day and night.
- Acknowledge important email. If you don’t have time to respond, send a short email with an expected response time instead.
- Set boundaries, such as refraining from email outside of working hours and manage response-time expectations.
Change strategies
Set an email practice and cadence
Outline clear parameters and expectations on when you will check and respond to emails. Ways to do this:
Choose how often you will check your email each day: 3 times per day
Use specific moments throughout the day as reminders: Right before lunch
Share your intentions and encourage your team members to do the same. For example:
"Sometimes we can all get overwhelmed by email, and switching back and forth between email and other work can impact our personal productivity. For this reason, I plan to check my email three times a day. If you require an immediate response, you can reach me with a Teams chat or phone call. I encourage everyone to try this and see if it helps you as well."
Demonstrate good Teams practices
Show your team the power of chat-based products, like Microsoft Teams, by using them yourself and by encouraging your team to collaborate with them.
Reduce the email recipient number
When replying to email, reduce the use of reply all and remove participants who do not need to participate in the conversation.