"Email was becoming a productivity threat versus a productivity tool."

 

Have you ever been copied on an email that has no relevance to you? How many times have you started to "just check your emails" and caught yourself two hours later, way off track from your plan for the day? Email overload is just one of the many reasons that work is encroaching on life. Christina Cavanagh, author of "Managing Your Email: Thinking Outside the Inbox", says that on average, Canadians work an extra hour each day just getting through their inboxes. This work is often not acknowledged,
and is increasingly done after hours.

 

The implications are serious. Heather Menzies, another Canadian researcher, and author of "No Time: Stress and the Crisis of Modern Life" reports that shifting attention every few minutes to respond to incoming e-mail increases cortisol levels, which decreases memory function. Glenn Wilson, from London University's King's College, reported an average IQ loss of 10 points among 1,100 frequent email users. These are not outcomes any business in a knowledge society wants to see.

 

As this subject was becoming an organizational concern at Xerox Canada Ltd., a project was proposed through their Lean Six Sigma (LSS) group. LSS is a discipline used by many companies and is designed to eliminate inefficiencies, waste and error from business processes. Sacha Fraser, Senior Counsel, and leader of the "Take Back the Hour" project, explained that the timing was right for the email issue to be tackled, as "email was becoming a productivity threat versus a productivity tool." 

The LSS approach requires that data drive decisions, so the project team began by surveying a pilot group of 150 employees. They asked such questions as:

 

Some of the strongest pet peeves turned out to be over-inclusiveness (being copied unnecessarily) and distribution list misuse, followed by "perpetual connectivity" (working outside business hours to catch up on email). The Occupational Health and Safety department reported that email burden sometimes contributed to mental conditions that in turn led to STD and LTD claims.

 

Xerox followed Cavanagh's research to develop solutions. One of the recommendations was that inboxes be reduced to an average of 25-30 new emails daily to recapture the hour. In addition to this, the complexity and quality of emails needed to improve.

 

Solutions were developed, which included a one-page protocol, a communications strategy, online training, a "Take Back the Hour" intranet site, contests, and technology tips.

 

 

The company-wide program was launched in April 2007 with very positive results. After just six weeks, 62% of Xerox's 4,200 employees said they had experienced a measurable drop in the number of emails, averaging ten less for each of those reporting a drop. That group recaptured an average 13.5 minutes each day. That's over one hour each week available for other things. Employees said they would use that time to have more interaction with internal and external customers, and more time for thinking and innovation, personal development, health and wellness, and friends and family. Put another way, Xerox calculated that recaptured time was worth $4.4 million. That's important money in absolute terms, and a meaningful gain in productivity and peace of mind.

 

And it doesn't stop here. The next phase of the "Take Back the Hour" project at Xerox will zero in on organizational and departmental solutions, with the aim of eventually recapturing an entire hour per day. "It requires a culture change" says Sacha, "and our culture is visibly starting to shift."

 

When asked what other organizations could learn from the Xerox experience, Sacha had this to say: "Often smaller companies feel they can't afford these initiatives, but this one cost us $33.95 (for Cavanagh's book) plus the time of the project team." The other nugget was the importance of "doing it right." "It seems easy to put a list of tips and strategies together that might be helpful, but the reason we've been so successful is that we took the time and effort to get to the bottom of the issues using LSS methodology."

 

The joke about the weather is that everyone complains, but no one does anything about it. The same has held true for email and other technologies… until someone at Xerox started this LSS project and bought a book. Poor training, a lack of email etiquette, and failure to measure and manage the use of technology too often increases stress. The promised productivity benefit is lost.

 

The good news? This is something most companies can tackle with basic measurement and some common sense rules, and may be one of the best health and productivity tools you invest in this year.

 

LSS is a combination of two process management disciplines. Lean focuses on speed, and Six Sigma on quality and consistency.

 

Lean targets unnecessary, no-value work in order to reduce process cycle times. In turn, this improves delivery performance and reduces cost.

 

Six Sigma uses statistical techniques to understand, measure, and reduce process variation. The goal is to improve service quality and reduce cost.

 

First advocated as a business tool by Motorola twenty years ago, proponents claim significant success in lowering costs. However, there is emerging concern that a singular focus on process can reduce tolerance for risk-taking, experimentation and innovation.

 

Deborah Connors is President of the Health Work & Wellness™
Conference 2007: Conquering the CHAOS. Sacha Fraser, Christina Cavanagh, and Heather Menzies are all featured speakers. For more information see: www.healthworkandwellness.com.