Email Usage

For this assignment I thought that it would be great to survey some of my fellow associates at work. Many of them are older and have been out of school for sometime, so I thought that they would be good to sample to survey. Also, I know that they all use e-mail frequently.

I work for in Customer Service and it is difficult to communicate with others sometimes because of the fact that we are always on the phone. Even when you do get a breather it is hard to catch who you want to speak to when they are not with a customer, so we found that the best way to communicate with each other is via e-mail.

So, yesterday while I was at work I asked a few people what they thought about their e-mail use at work and also while they were at home. For the most part they used their e-mail mostly at work. When I asked them why they thought that they used it more at work, they responded that this has been their main form of communication while at work and at home they have more choices on how they choose to communicate with someone. I than began to ask them the questions that professor ___ suggested, such as how many e-mails do they consider important and how does this form of communication simplify their lives? The answers differed depending on if they were reading their emails at home or the emails that we receive at work. While using their home email, they all agreed that about 90 percent of their email is junk mail and about 10 percent of email that is received is of importance. Many brought up the fact that they receive monthly invoices online instead of receiving paper bills and they are also notified when there payment had been received. I could understand why this was such a convenience to them just because I also am notified via email about some bills, such as my car insurance, which is deducted out of my checking account each month. I receive an email a few weeks prior to the due date letting me know when the payment will be deducted and once that payment has been taken out I receive a confirmation for that payment. As for at work, their answers where very different due to the fact that we only receive mail from people within the company, so unless it was sent to the wrong person by mistake, it will be an important e-mail.

As for simplifying their lives they had mixed emotions depending on where they were using their email. At work there main concern was being able to get in touch with someone quickly without having to leave their seats and having email available to them allows them to do this. At home they also generally agreed that it could simplify their lives due to the fact that they can check their email on a regular basis for updates on their bills or easily get in touch with someone who they know but lives in a different state. With their busy schedules they feel that emailing would be much more helpful then trying to catch them when they are not busy by phone. However, they did mention that they would prefer to call that person if they could rather than email. They also mentioned that sometimes it is just better to hear someone’s voice.

When I asked them what the trade off was for using email, they all answered that the main thing is losing out in hearing their voice or even seeing their emotions when speaking to someone in person. For example, at work my manager works during the day and does not get a chance to really see or talk to the part timers that can in later at night. One woman that I surveyed said that the only way that she can communicate with him is via email and that she would prefer to speak with him in person about some things. She mentioned that an email could be misunderstood and also she does not like the fact that the only way to communicate with him is via email.

I believe that everyone’s opinions will vary due to how much they use emailing, the nature of the email, and who they speaking with. The truth is many adults like my grandparents do not even know what email is, so I am sure that if I surveyed them, they would rather communicate over the phone or by person. It really depends on the demographic.