With 70 percent of workers in the U.S. saying they feel overwhelmed by e-mails, many companies are starting to offer training on how to manage information overload.
John Deere in Moline, Illinois set out almost two years ago to offer training classes for their 52,000 employees worldwide. They not only provided software tools, but they also trained employees on how to better manage e-mails, text messages and other electronic information in order to work more effectively with less stress. The results so far have been encouraging. Over 400 workers have completed the nine-hour course and 90 percent have said there are utilizing what they learned and have eased their daily workload.
Many other research firms and pilot programs are popping up to address this issue. A non-profit organization called Information Overload Research Group was formed in June 2008 to raise awareness and has brought on board some large corporations, such as Google and Morgan Stanley, along with universities and product vendors. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California has co-authored a research study which determined workers are interrupted every 12 minutes by something that is not part of their daily workload. On average, it took the worker 25 minutes to get back to the priorities on their desk. Intel initiated a pilot program for seven months for “quiet time”, where four hours every Tuesday morning their 300 employees completely disconnected from their computers and cell phones. Meetings were also discouraged during that time. The participants felt the exercise was very effective and they used that free time to catch up and get more on track with what was important in their work situations.
The return on investment may be difficult to measure. However, John Deere feels the results they see speak volumes – they have happier, more productive employees.