Superhuman released the results of a new survey that looks at how the pandemic and shift to remote work are impacting people’s attitudes towards their jobs.
The study finds that nearly two in three remote workers would rather go back to their daily commute than continue sorting through the deluge of emails and Slacks they are now receiving.
Email in particular is such a source of stress

San Francisco, Calif. – April 21, 2021 – Superhuman, the fastest email experience in the world, today released the results of a new survey that looks at how the pandemic and shift to remote work are impacting people’s attitudes towards their jobs.

The study finds that nearly two in three remote workers would rather go back to their daily commute than continue sorting through the deluge of emails and Slacks they are now receiving. Email in particular is such a source of stress that nearly half of respondents would rather clean their bathroom than sort through their unopened emails.

The release of this data comes at a time when nearly two in five U.S. employees are expected to work remotely for the remainder of 2021 and face uncertainty around whether they will ever return to a shared physical workplace. The study highlights the ongoing struggles employees face as they continue to work remotely, as well as potential solutions to help improve the situation. Respondents believe employer supported policies, like daily breaks and devoted “self-care” time, as well as stipends for apps or software would help them be more productive while working from home.

Key report findings:

Remote office workers would rather go back to their daily commute than face their overstuffed inboxes. Nearly two in three office workers (64%) would rather go back to their daily commute than continue sorting the deluge of emails and Slack or Teams messages. In fact, 38% of office workers say email or chat is the WFH nuisance most likely to make them quit their jobs.
Women feel greater pressure to respond to incoming emails and chats than men. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of women say they can’t go more than five minutes without opening a notification for a new email or work communication, significantly more than the 56% of men who say the same. Consequently, women are 75% more likely than men to say they enjoy work less now that they did pre-pandemic.
Younger members of the workforce are feeling even more pressure to stay on top of their work. Nearly a third of remote workers 40 and younger (31%) can’t even wait a minute to check their work email after waking up compared to just 19% of their peers over 40. As a result, nearly half of these workers (51%) list the volume of emails and Slack or Teams messages they receive as a top reason for why they’d consider leaving their jobs.

Email overload is getting so bad that remote office workers are opening up their wallets to relieve the pressure. Half of remote workers (50%) spent their own money on tools to help manage their productivity—and another 17% plan to do so in the future.

Methodology

This survey was conducted by Wakefield Research in March of 2021. The survey was distributed online to 1,000 office professionals who are currently working from home. The data was weighted to ensure an accurate and reliable representation of the U.S. population.

About Superhuman

Superhuman is the fastest email experience in the world. Users get through their inbox twice as fast as before, respond to important emails sooner, and see Inbox Zero for the first time in years. Founded in 2015 by the founders of Rapportive (acquired by LinkedIn), Superhuman rebuilt the inbox from the ground up with powerful keyboard shortcuts, triaging tools, insights from social networks, follow-up reminders, and calendar functionality, as well as its signature, concierge-style onboarding.