The cause of slowing your job down: E-mail

The other day, a friend of mine who is the head of human resources came to Osaka to participate in a seminar about "remote work" held in Osaka. I had lunch with him after the seminar. His company is listed on the Japanese stock exchange (to make my point that the company has lots of employee). Apparently, he receives about 200 to 300 emails in one day. He said it has gotten better now that his workers process them to a certain level.

From what I hear, it seems that the number of emails pile up with so many unnecessary CCs being attached. There's CC attached on emails that just say "okay". It seems that most people tend to attach unnecessary CCs to disperse responsibility.

I suggested discontinuing emails and using chat rooms instead. He is thinking about implementing telecommute system as well, so using chat rooms would be easier. On top of that, you can almost completely prevent virus problems and reduce unnecessary emails, which would lead to work efficiency.

In his company, they're only starting to consider remote work. It's a big company, so it seems that maintaining balance is the issue. Employees tend to complain by saying "why them and not me?". Everyone would agree that women with small children and staff who takes care of their parents would be the first to be accepted.

We understand a lot about remote work. Productivity would increase and the job separation rate would decrease. However, self-management skill is required. It's not fit for everyone.

Something that a small business can do might not be possible in a big company. Indeed, the bigger the scale is, the harder it is to implement new ideas.

Above is translation of an article "仕事を中断させる原因：メール" dated November 18, 2017
Translation by Hiroko Matsuda