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Information workers becoming ‘Inbox workers’ as reliance on business email grows

Information workers’ reliance on email is turning them into ‘Inbox Workers’ who spend the majority of their time on email and shun social media at work, according to new research launched today by Mimecast, the leading supplier of cloud-based email archiving, continuity and security for Microsoft Exchange, Hosted Exchange and Office 365.

The research – the second in Mimecast’s Shape of Email series – surveyed 2,500 information workers in the US, UK and South Africa to explore the average employee’s attitudes to, and frustrations with, email. The report found that on average an information worker will use email for four hours per day; equivalent to more than 37 full 24-hour days over a working year, 111 working days, or 888 working hours.

However, users are also frustrated by the limitations of email. Just one in four users report high levels of satisfaction with their email functionality and one in three expect email and social media to converge in the next five years. It is clear that email needs to evolve if it is to cope with the demands of modern day Inbox Workers, who see email not just as a communications tool but as a file store, search engine and a collaboration platform.