Category: Email

Does opening your inbox on a weekday morning send you straight to panic mode, before you’ve even had your coffee? Every day it’s the same old story – you open your inbox and it’s full of work messages, news notifications, promotional offers, brand newsletters, personal emails, and more. By the time you’ve handled them, you’ve lost precious focus time that could have been used towards tasks that actually matter.

While email is intended to streamline communication, it sometimes becomes a counter-productive tool when the inbox requires too much time to manage. Many emails are simply unnecessary and constantly distract us from the important tasks we need to get done. 

It’s summer, and you’re probably gearing up to take some time off work – including tying up loose ends, putting some final touches on projects, and figuring out the process of delegating. So many factors go into making sure you can actually disconnect, relax, and recharge over your planned vacation. 

Once you’ve finally crossed off those last-minute items on your to-do list and are ready to check out of work mode for while, there’s just one last thing you need to do – set your out-of-office message. 

So what makes a good automated response that will give you the reassurance you need to keep your work email under control so that you can truly enjoy your holiday?

With summer in full swing, you probably have some vacations planned and are excited to get away from the stress of work. In the back of your mind, though, you’re probably worried about coming back to an overflowing inbox and a neverending list of people to respond to. So much for the initial excitement, huh?

According to a 2018 survey of over 4,3000 employees, a whopping 52% ended the year with unused vacation days due to heavy workloads and a fear of being let go. As far as those who do take time off, many report that they still make themselves available to work and email on vacation.

When it comes to email, are you a reactor or a batcher? There are two kinds of people in this world, but most of us, unfortunately, are in the “reactor” category – AKA, falling into the trap of constantly nibbling away on messages that come in throughout the day. “Batchers”, on the other hand, block off time in their calendars to power through their inbox, and then ignore it the rest of the time. Reactor’s work suffers since they are constantly interrupting their tasks to check messages, while batchers can stay in the zone and focus on work, distraction-free.

Our ethos at SaneBox revolves around the “batching” method. Sure, winnowing down your email can make it feel like you’ve made strong progress, but it’s a false sense of accomplishment. Studies have shown that batchers are more productive, less stressed, and maintain a higher state of contentment. We think that’s a pretty compelling argument against reacting and multitasking when it comes to email.

Study finds boundless workplace expectations leads to stress, anxiety

Wireless internet emancipated us from the doldrums of office space.

If there’s Wi-Fi, an “office” is now simply wherever you are: a coffeehouse, an airport terminal or within the cozy walls of your home. While the choice to work anywhere led to a new age of workplace freedom, along with it came the unfortunate ability of always being available.