Employee threatened over tsunami appeal e-mail

Simon White received a formal written warning of disciplinary action and possible dismissal if he sent another group e-mail calling for donations. Tiwest claimed that White had broken office policy by sending the e-mail that was not work-related. White claims that the warning was unfair as he was only trying to help tsunami victims, in addition, he felt that it was suitable to send to the e-mail to the general manager and other workers as the company had not publicly complained about non-work related group e-mails sent by others. Full report in The West Australian

Staying with e-mail issues, a UK study has found that employees find dealing with e-mails a welcome distraction, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Bored workers also become more effective if they are interrupted by e-mail, research student Emma Russell at the University of Surrey found. Russell said the findings were surprising, especially for people with stressful jobs. Some of those questioned said they were glad of a chance to break away from demanding work; others, working on a boring or tedious task, said e-mails were a welcome distraction. Full Sydney Morning Herald report