Remote working is the world’s biggest-ever workplace experiment. It’s having significant implications for work organisation, culture, and our passion area, communication. People are writing more emails, reports, and instant-chat messages because they are:
lacking in-person connections
dealing with issues in writing to relieve stress of remembering too many things
grappling with the blurring boundaries of work and home
feeling uncertain about the post-Covid world – personally, and for their employer.
In our earlier blog "Death by Zoom in the workplace" we shared the latest research on the impact of virtual meetings on cognitive load and communication effectiveness. And we provided tips for keeping in control.
In April 2021, email management platform Superhuman released survey results saying almost 50% of people working remotely "dream of a workday without video calls”. Close to one-third of those surveyed want a break from email. A quarter “crave a day with no Slack or Teams notifications”. Remote workers' angst towards the increased volume is clear. Nearly two-thirds of them would rather commute again if they could be unburdened from escalating emails and notifications.
Words aren't cheap
We develop the business writing skills of professionals across multi disciplines. They all express similar frustrations to the survey respondents. Most are coming to grips with the hybrid workplace – some time in the office, but the rest at home.
Between January to May 2021 we critiqued examples from 115 clients in Australia. People sent us their daily emails, documents and workplace e-messages for feedback. Two things stood out – volume of writing and unnecessary words – and this prompted us to look at the economic impact of overwriting.
7,500 words a day
The average output in words from our coaching client base appears in diagram 1. Everyone tells us they are writing more now compared with pre-Covid times.
Diagram 1. Daily output based on 115 coaching clients in 2021
Impact of compounding redundant words
We routinely see people write 10-15% more words than necessary. Sometimes, people waste 50% of words. Diagram 2 shows the compounding impact of a conservative 10% word redundancy.
Diagram 2. Impact of compounding redundant words
Compounding cost of redundant words
Unnecessary words affect decision-making, reputations, and productivity. Diagram 3 shows the time and dollar costing of writing and reading redundant words.
Diagram 3. Compounding cost of redundant words
Top 3 ways to cut the clutter
1. Write in active voice
Voice is the characteristic of a verb (a doing word) that tells us whether the subject of the verb is performing the action of the verb (active voice) or whether the subject is acted upon (passive voice).
If that explanation is too “grammatical”, don’t panic. Consider this sentence:
Three people were chased by a man with a stick in a city park last night.
This is the passive voice. The use of the word “by” tells us so. The subject (three people) is acted upon (by a man with a stick).
The easiest way to avoid passive voice is to say goodbye to “by”.
Active voice is more succinct. Less wordy sentences are easier to understand. Active voice creates
a sense of immediacy and this can help improve the pace of your writing.
2. Don’t repeat headings in sentences
A well-crafted heading, subheading or subject line should not repeat the first sentence. Your readers are smart and time-poor. They need you to get on with your communication and not tell them what they’ve just read.
Same goes with visuals and supporting commentary. A well-designed chart, table or image should tell clear, persuasive messages. Make sure your accompanying sentences add value, not simply repeat what is obvious from the chart, table or image.
3. Proofread for precision
Reading your draft aloud is the best technique for spotting superfluous and repetitive words. If you rely on your eyes and your internal dialogue to proofread, then you’re likely to overwrite and not spot other errors.
Hearing your words also helps detect:
inappropriate tone
grammar mistakes
missing information
clunky words and phrases.