Today communication via email, especially at work, is no longer as much fun as it once was. One reason amongst many for this is the ever increasing digitalization of the workplace. A wide range of digital attack mechanisms such as virus, spam or phishing, also make it more difficult for companies to utilize email. Moreover, day after day managers are bombarded with a huge amount of emails. Constant availability via email is however not only time-intensive, but also causes a great deal of stress. Time to do something about it?
Email as a stress factor
Nowadays mobile devices such as smart phones or tablets ensure that managers and employees are online everywhere around the clock – meaning that they are also reachable outside of regular office hours. As a result, business people are increasingly overloaded, and absence from work due to mental illness has increased dramatically. Politicians and industry leaders have already set up the first initiatives to block business emails after office hours. In this way, the German Federal Labor Ministry already committed itself in 2013 to only disturb staff after hours by phone or email in absolutely exceptional cases. At Volkswagen, already half an hour after office hours no emails are delivered. Deutsche Telekom, E.on, Puma and BMW have instituted similar limitations. In Germany Federal Labor Minister Andrea Nahles is currently considering an anti-stress decree on the federal level.
Retarus Quiet Time: Enjoy your time off
The first IT service providers have already developed initial solutions to enable a substantial reduction in email stress. For instance, Retarus Quiet Time allows flexible time intervals to be defined as “Quiet Times” such as holidays or weekends. Within these time periods, employees do not receive their mails externally. Incoming messages are instead stored in the data center of the provider in the interim. Following the end of the defined time interval the user automatically receives all of the messages which have been held back during that time. Using forwarding functions for emails with higher priority also ensures that very important messages are not blocked. Internal email policies can thus be implemented very easily.
Retarus Inbox Assist reduces email stress
Especially for managers who have assistants but require more privacy, Retarus Inbox Assist is also highly suitable. This regulates incoming email traffic and delivers private emails or VIP messages exclusively to the address recipient, while normal business correspondence is automatically forwarded to assistance staff. This enables CEOs, heads of department and other managers to maintain the necessary privacy, while also unburdening them from less critical correspondence. Assistants can still sort and process the inbox without having to access the mailbox of the supervisor.
Less stress with maximum security
Email for business communication poses huge challenges, not only for employees but also IT departments. Email is a popular gateway used by attackers for spam, phishing, virus and other malware. The private use of business mail clients and access via private smart phones or tablets, for example in the home office, also constitute an increased security risk. In order to safeguard the exchange of sensitive data accordingly, and to protect the company comprehensively against cyber attacks, the deployment of dependable security systems is crucial. Companies are, moreover, required to have clear guidelines for the use of communication channels and to raise awareness for these issues among their staff in appropriate training courses. Retarus E-Mail Security therefore not only offers valuable assistance in keeping the stress factor in email communication as low as possible, but also helps in the implementation of a comprehensive email security strategy. To find out more about Retarus E-Mail Security, please click here or get in touch with your local Retarus contact person.
