Birmingham has been hit by a bout of “e-rage”, according to a new survey of office workers, owners and managers by specialist business ISP Eclipse Internet.
The survey looked at the effects of email down-time on business owners and workers, and found that for some, the frustration of not having access to email can see them resort to extreme measures in an attempt to ‘fix’ the problem, including hitting, kicking and even throwing their computer in anger.
In Birmingham, a whopping 78 per cent of office workers and company owners agree that e-mail downtime causes major stress at work.
But it seems Birmingham office workers are more restrained than in other parts of the UK.
Only eight per cent would resort to hitting their computer and seven per cent to kicking it, when the frustrations of e-rage strike, compared to office workers in Glasgow who are much more likely to take out their frustration by kicking their PC (18.5 per cent).
Even more chilled-out office workers can be found in Bristol (3.6 per cent) and in Southampton, where only 1.7 per cent of respondents would hit their computer when their email crashes.
Mark Thomas, from Eclipse Internet, said: “The message to small businesses is clear. Concentrate on running your core business and let a professional third party manage your email communications.’’
