Email abuse is rife, survey finds

More than 90% of employees abuse office email, regularly using it to organise their social life and send jokes, according to research released this week by Cryoserver, a company that sells email archiving systems to law firms.

November 10, 2005 at 07:03 PM

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Cryoserver surveyed a selection of UK employees from various industries about their email habits, particularly focusing on those that were non-work related.

The results will come as no surprise to anyone with experience of managing law firms' email systems.

98% of respondents used their work email to discuss and organise their social lives and weekend plans.

Nine in ten (90%) used work email to forward joke emails; 78% used it to plan their holiday; and 76% used it to conduct non-work related business.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) used it to organise birthday, stag and hen parties; 70% to discuss dinner plans; 64% to discuss their love life and 56% to gossip about their colleagues.

Paul Grossman, chief executive at Cryoserver, said: "It is clear from this survey that a large number of companies are breaking regulations set under the Data Protection Act as well as suffering from lower productivity brought about by excessive use of
personal email at work."

He added: "The only way organisations can achieve the necessary safeguards to
allow them to retain emails yet still observe data protection rules, is to install a forensic audit and compliance system.