CommCore Survey Suggests Real Time Phone & In-person Communications a Thing of the Past; Workers Turning to Unlisted E-Mail Addresses to Sort through Clutter.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 1999--

American workers are increasingly using unlisted e-mail addresses that they share only with select friends and colleagues, according to recent stories in USA Today and on CNN.com.

These secret E-mail addresses are becoming necessary to avoid excess clutter in workers' in-boxes, explained Andrew Gilman, a communications expert and President of CommCore Consulting Group. "Having a confidential e-mail address is like having a secretary to screen your calls. Otherwise you can be swamped by the deluge of e-mail," he said.

The reason for the clutter is not a mystery to Gilman. His company found in a recent survey that one in five American workers use E-mail to avoid having personal contact with other people. As a result, the amount of mail passing between people is growing by the day, and many workers' in-boxes are becoming unmanageable.

The survey also found that:

-- 71% of business callers prefer leaving a voicemail than leaving a

message with a person on the line; -- 65% would rather send an E-mail than leave a voicemail; -- 81% of respondents said their use of E-mail for business purposes

has increased in the last year, versus only 28% who reported an

increase in the use of voicemail for business.

Gilman notes that most of the people surveyed had horror stories to tell including tales of being fired via E-mail and sending messages to unintended recipients.

"Many people approach E-mail like passing a note to a friend in school. Our survey illustrates that all too often the note is falling into the teacher's hands, and it's not always something you want to share with the rest of the class," said Gilman.

"Based on our survey results, we know how critical e-mail has become when business people communicate. The key is to teach workers how to send e-mail that is professional in tone and gets their point across," explains Gilman. He says communicating well by e-mail is harder than talking in person. "It's difficult to know when your point has been missed - you don't have the eye contact and facial expressions that would tell you the other person doesn't understand you."

CommCore conducts e-mail, voicemail and presentation communications training for companies in the U.S. and abroad. Clients include General Motors, Sprint, National Council on Compensation Insurance, Warner Lambert, and Bell Atlantic.