Last week, I stumbled upon an unknown fact which had already been branded as utterly square. Signing off an email by flaunting a book one is currently engrossed in, is plunging in popularity as swiftly as the gym jumpsuit, pronounced the Sunday Times Style magazine. This fact flummoxed me. “Who in their right mind appends such a flex at the end of their email?” This question was hurled to any and all individuals within hearing distance in my workspace. A multitude of individuals, was the consensus, which was corroborated by my own inbox inspection.
Apparently, for quite some time people have been informing me that they are devouring books on various subjects like the hidden implications of stress, DIY abortions, and something intriguing titled “synchrodestiny” penned by self-help luminary Deepak Chopra. It’s worth noting that not everyone was attempting to brag. Some individuals were employed by book publishing firms where such conclusions are incentivised. Others laboured for performance coaches who likely also coax their team to draft such taglines.
One individual though, a bonafide performance coach, concluded her email with her ongoing “wellbeing focus”, which turned out to be regular thrice a week nature walks. I find this kind of gesture more futile than vexing. The reality that I didn’t register what anyone was presently reading or directing attention to, until I consciously sought it out, indicates that these notifications are not as beneficial as the drafters might think.
I find them less grating than sign-offs that publicise the writer’s OBE or the employment of an app that logs their cycling distance. This however attests how much the simple email sign-off has evolved since the inception of office email, which only used to be a modest “best wishes” followed by a name and job title. It is hard to discern when the sign-off morphed into yet another mechanism in the self-advertising arsenal commonplace in contemporary corporate culture, but I do not envisage its demise in the near future.
This aligns with a more disquieting phenomenon commenting on the modern state of office email: the escalating trend of individuals opting for a polite sign-off indicating that the sender should not anticipate a response.
A gentleman I’m acquainted with, affiliated with a vast multinational network where never-ending email assaults are the norm, has a trademark concluding statement for his emails that reads, “My inbox is overflowing with emails, so I cannot respond to each one. If the matter is pressing, do not hesitate to call me.” By enclosing the statement in parentheses, he makes it sound less harsh. This is similar to a tactic used by a journalist friend who’s inundated daily by unsolicited emails from around the globe.
Some individuals take it a notch further, employing something I’ve often contemplated: a permanent automated reply that sets the expectation of possible disappointment. Amy Edmondson, a Professor at Harvard Business School, has been using a notification of this sort which, as of last week, read:
“I appreciate you reaching out. However, due to the sheer volume of daily emails I receive, equivalent to the minutes in my working hours, I sincerely regret I won’t be able to respond to all. My primary attention goes to my students, associates, and family. With any spare time, I strive to catch up on the backlog of messages, responding to as many as possible.” The message also includes contacts for her scheduling and speaking enquiries.
Edmondson admits this automatic reply is perpetual, but occasionally amended to highlight circumstances making her unusually inaccessible, for instance, her assistant taking a break.
She confides, “I feel it’s more fair to indicate that my availability limitations may prevent me from responding to most emails rather than simply not replying. Earning over 500 emails daily, it’s impossible to return all…unfortunately.”
Indeed, she’s correct. With email traffic soaring, Statista reports the average UK and US worker were swamped with a minimum of 32 emails per day in 2022 in addition to 21 instant messages, 13 texts, and 12 direct telephone calls.
Other studies put the total number of daily emails even higher. Regardless, it’s an overload. So, feel free to adopt a personalised email signoff to manage expectations, but prepare to realise it may go unnoticed and don’t take offence should it fall on deaf ears. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024.