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Emails, instant messages, virtual meetings and notifications keep us connected and on task, but they can also drain engagement, productivity and morale. While it is important to stay in the loop, when constant communication can end up feeling more like a bombardment, it becomes a real problem.

Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index reveals a startling reality: 40% of employees now check email before 6am and nearly a third of workers return to their inbox by 10pm. Evening meetings have surged 16% year-over-year.

A constant flow of messages, meetings and alerts takes a toll. When we’re repeatedly pulled in different directions, it can lead to communication fatigue, a state of mental exhaustion, reduced engagement and lower productivity. Symptoms can include difficulty concentrating, increased stress, mistakes and even burnout.

The good news is there are practical steps you can take to help avoid communication fatigue. Strategies such as batching emails and messages into specific times, blocking out uninterrupted deep work periods and turning off non-essential notifications can assist in setting clear expectations with colleagues.

Set your own rules

Taking ownership of your focus is crucial, says time management expert and author of The Life List, Kate Christie.

“Focus is about working out when you’re at your best and building a six-foot-high bulletproof fence around that time,” says Christie. “If you’re a morning person, batch your highest value, most impactful tasks in the morning and make it clear to colleagues, ‘don’t interrupt me then’. Be fully available in the afternoons. Or flip it around if mornings aren’t your peak time.

“The key is protecting your own focus and setting boundaries that work for you,” she says.

Without clear boundaries, interruptions are almost inevitable and they come at a steep cost. Every time someone is pulled away from a task, it’s estimated to take you 23 minutes to regain focus, Christie explains.

“Interruptions are massively costly at work. Before interrupting, ask yourself, can this wait or can they figure it out themselves?”

Creating systems and protocols

Workloads, team expectations and the sheer volume of messages can make it hard to focus, especially in hybrid or remote environments where visibility often feels tied to responsiveness.

“Nowadays, it feels like we always have to be ‘on’,” says Stephanie McKee Wright, leadership expert and director at New Zealand-based HR and leadership consultancy, Epic People. “If we don’t respond immediately, we worry others will think we’re slacking or not doing our job. That pressure is even more intense for people working hybrid or remotely: they feel they constantly have to prove they’re actually working.”

Managing this kind of constant communication often isn’t just about protecting your own focus, it’s also about how teams operate. McKee Wright says it starts with setting up agreed systems and routines on how to handle messages without getting overwhelmed.

“Teams need shared norms around response times, urgent protocols and the use of messaging platforms to support high-performing collaboration. Clear and thoughtful communication, both what is sent and how, also helps reduce unnecessary interruptions and keeps everyone on the same page,” she says.

This includes setting some protocols around what to put in the subject line. Being clear upfront helps recipients quickly decide what to do with your email. Apart from having a relevant subject that makes searching easier, it allows the correspondence to be filed and read later; added to a project folder or for it to be delegated straight away.

“The first and most basic thing is what you put in your subject line of an email, and the first few lines of that email. If it’s just an FYI, say so. If it needs a response by a certain date, say so, and why you need it by then. If it needs some kind of action, say so, and put that early in the email,” she says.

It also helps to make emails easy to scan. Using headings, bullet points, numbered lists or tables allows people to grasp key information quickly, without wading through dense paragraphs.

Responsiveness matters too. Even a short acknowledgement that confirms receipt and sets an expectation for when a fuller response will come can reduce unnecessary follow-ups and anxiety.

Managing your inbox

Email has emerged as one of the biggest culprits responsible for communication fatigue, with a study of RescueTime users finding that, on average, workers check in with communication tools every six minutes. More than a third check email or instant messaging every three minutes or less.

If there are predetermined goals that need to be addressed that day, the first step is to avoid looking at your email at the start of your workday, says productivity expert Donna McGeorge.

“We’ve fallen into a habit of opening email first thing in the morning and letting it dictate our priorities. We might start the day with good intentions and goals, but by the time we get caught up in our inbox, it’s 4pm and those goals haven’t been touched,” she says.

“Instead, give yourself some space before diving into emails. Even just an hour at the start of the day can make a huge difference. It’s a tough adjustment for many people, but it allows you to focus on your priorities before reacting to everything in your inbox,” she says.

Understanding that only about 10% of emails genuinely require your judgement, expertise or decision making is also important, says McGeorge. The challenge is that many of us fall into traps of urgency, proximity and hierarchy, allowing notifications and inboxes to dictate our priorities when they don’t have to.

“A full 90% of emails are some version of noise. They’re messages you glance at, note, file, forward, delete or simply ignore, without giving them much mental energy.

“The problem is that when we hear the notification or see the alert light up, we instinctively assume it’s part of that important 10%. So, we dive in straight away, even though most of the time it turns out to be something that didn’t need our attention at all,” she says.

Keeping on top of emails is a good technique to master and can foster a reputation for reliability, says McKee Wright.

“The basic idea of clearing out your inbox is simple,” she says. “Skim emails, do quick tasks immediately, delete them and move everything else into designated folders to handle at a scheduled time.” 

For example, an accounts assistant might receive remittances and invoices throughout the day. Instead of acting on each one as it arrives, they could sweep remittances into one folder and invoices into another, then process them in batches at their allocated email time. Automation rules can make this even easier, sorting emails into the right folders, she says.

“This ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach keeps your inbox manageable and your focus intact,” says McKee Wright.

Delegating smaller tasks and information requests is also critical. Trusting your team means you can pass emails on, without worrying about them.

“Letting go of the need to respond immediately is a mindset shift. Turning off pop-up notifications and agreeing as a team that instant replies aren’t necessary helps reinforce it,” advises McKee Wright.

Avoid multitasking

Multitasking makes it worse.

“We think we’ll get more done by juggling tasks, but it actually reduces productivity by about 40%. Once interrupted, you’re switching between the original task, the interruption and any quick follow-ups, before you even get back on track,” says Christie.

The solution is to set aside dedicated blocks of focused work, batch tasks together and take control of when and how you respond to distractions.

“Batching is the art of grouping similar tasks together and blocking out time in your calendar, so you can stay in flow,” she advises. “When you’re batching your highest-value work, turn off notifications, put your phone on silent, grab your headphones, close the door or find a quiet space. Work in focused bursts of 45 minutes and only check emails or messages after that.

“If something truly urgent comes up people will be able to reach you, but otherwise you protect your attention and get things done,” says Christie.

Be mindful of after-hours communication

Flexible work has blurred the boundaries of the working day, but that doesn’t mean everyone should feel they are on call around the clock. If you choose to work outside standard hours because it suits your schedule, you have a responsibility to manage the impact that communication has on others, says McGeorge. One handy solution is to schedule to delay delivery of your emails.

“Rather than firing off emails late at night or over the weekend, messages can be written when it suits you but delivered during the recipient’s normal business hours, for example, first thing Monday morning. This removes unnecessary pressure on others to respond immediately, while still allowing you to work flexibly,” she says.

McGeorge also recommends stating the intent clearly at the top of the email, rather than burying it in a signature line. A simple note such as ‘No need to read or respond to this now – I’m sending it because it suits my working hours’ can instantly reduce anxiety and set realistic expectations.

She also challenges the assumption that work devices need to come home with you every night.

“What would happen if you left your laptop at work, locked in a drawer?” she suggests. “Most of the time, nothing. We tell ourselves we need to be reachable ‘just in case’, but the reality is that most roles aren’t life-and-death. Choosing not to look is often the simplest and most effective boundary of all of work hours for actual creation and deep work.”

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The cost of communication overload

• On average, employees are interrupted every two minutes during work hours, resulting in around 275 interruptions a day from meetings, emails, chats and pings.
• Workers now spend a majority of their time communicating, with research showing they spend 57% of work hours in email, meetings or chat, leaving only 43% of work hours for actual creation and deep work.
• While many people have a natural productivity peak from 9–11am and 1–3pm linked to our circadian rhythms, 50% of that valuable time is used for meetings. The day we pack in the most meetings? Tuesdays.

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Take away

Visit the CA Library for the audiobook Boundaries, Priorities, and Finding Work-Life Balance (Run time: 3 hrs 22 mins).

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