The Dirty Little Secret About E-Mail That No One Wants to Talk About

Here’s the dirty little secret about e-mail that no one wants to talk about: most American workers have poor writing skills. "Blame it on the schools, blame it on TV, blame it on whatever you want, but the ugly truth is that we have a serious problem on our hands," says Michelle Howe, president of InternetWordMagic.com.

The results of a 2004 survey by the National Commission on Writing conclude that “One-third of the employees in the nation’s blue-chip companies wrote poorly and those businesses were spending as much as $3.1 billion annually on remedial training.”

A 2005 National Commission on Writing survey of human resource directors who oversee nearly 2.7 million state government employees showed similar dismal results. “Although 70% of state managers said large majorities of their professional employees had adequate skills, just one-third said clerical and support staff did. The report estimates the states spend $221 million annually on remedial writing training.”

Poorly written e-mails waste time and cost companies millions of dollars in lost productivity. According to Information Mapping, 65% of workers waste 1 to 3 hours per day reading and writing e-mails. One British company estimated it wastes over $39 million a year to have employees write and read unnecessary e-mails.

Time wasting e-mails are basically the result of employees not knowing how to compose well organized e-mail and not knowing how to clearly present their message. Critical information is missing, or the message rambles on and is too wordy. The e-mail recipient is confused and doesn’t know how to reply.

Internet writing expert Michelle Howe understands the problems companies face. Her company, InternetWordMagic.com, specializes in improving online communication. Her E-Mail Productivity System™ is a customized training program that covers the issues of business writing, e-mail etiquette, e-mail security and the liabilities of e-mail.

According to Howe, “I can tell you from first-hand experience that employees desperately want this training and are grateful to get the knowledge they need to do their jobs better. For most employees, it has been a long time since they have been in school and they have forgotten quite a bit of what they learned. My pre-test scores show the employees are unable to answer basic grammar and writing questions. Pre-test scores usually show a failure rate of 78 to 100%. After training, the employees’ post-test scores are often a remarkable zero to 10% failure rate. They want to learn and they do learn.”

Poor writing skills may be the symptom, but the disease is poor communication. Howe believes having a written e-mail policy in place is not enough. "All employees (including management) need on-going e-policy education that teaches them business writing skills, correct e-mail etiquette and the consequences involved when using e-mail inappropriately."