"2003 E-Mail Rules, Policies and Practices Survey"
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American Management Association, July 2004.
The American Management Association reports in its “2003 E-Mail Rules, Policies and Practices Survey” that more than half of all U.S. firms monitor their employees e-mails in some fashion and 22 percent of the companies surveyed had terminated someone for e-mail infractions. This study is a follow up on a 2001 survey corporate e-mail policies and practices. The AMA reports a 6 percent decline in the use of written policy since their inaugural study, but the vast majority of companies studied have some kind of policy in place. While about 75 percent of the companies reported having written policies regarding e-mail use, fewer than half train their employees on them. And despite a recent crackdown by the Securities and Exchange Commission, only one-third of respondents said that their companies had written policies on the retention and destruction of e-mails.
On average, respondents reported spending a quarter of their time on e-mail, with nearly a third devoting more than two hours per day on e-mail. Ninety percent of all employees said that at least some of their mail, usually less than 10 percent, was personal. The vast majority of respondents (92 percent) said that they received spam mail and about a quarter reported losing more than two days due to e-mail problems. Despite these issues, a slight majority (51 percent) said that e-mail made them more efficient.
