One of the hardest parts about returning to work post-holiday is opening your computer to see hundreds (maybe thousands) of emails in your inbox. Outlook is dominated by auto-responses, ping-pong chains of irrelevant messages and out of date calendar requests. Your first day back will usually be spent sifting through these digital odds and ends, most of which will be internal mail. In most companies, internal mail makes up half to three quarters of all email traffic (Forbes.com). It contributes disproportionately to the fact that employees are spending 40% of their time dealing with email. In essence, employees aren’t technically adding value to the organisation until the Wednesday of a working week. Halton Housing Trust took a stand against this excessive and incessant e-mail traffic. Some employees were sending 5,000 messages a month. They reduced this by 80% with an email charter outlining key dos and don’ts. http://www.ableandhow.com/auto-response-addicted-to-email/