British ISP ntl:Telewest has published the results of a recent survey on etiquette in email, IM and SMS communication.

The survey of over 1,468 (53% male / 47% female) office workers contains few surprises, although it is interesting to compare the results with similar US studies on email use and gender and email productivity.

Email is the electronic medium of choice. The report found that “more people said they were addicted to email in the workplace than any other medium, with 78% of respondents claiming they couldn’t live without it.”

However, it seems email is not always being used for work-related purposes. UK offices are full of what the report describes as “bad behaviour”:

Professionals aren’t only using email to make corporate deals. 40% use the tool for gossip, 54% for socialising, and 60% for dealing with issues regarding their relationships with coworkers. Men are more likely than women to use email for socialising, whereas women are more likely to use it for gossiping.

The study asked respondents how long they needed to wait for a reply to an email before considering the recipient of the original email rude:

The survey also found that younger respondents were more adventurous in their communication channels than older ones, and males more than females.

In British offices, traditional communication methods remain important: “Leaving aside email for the moment, a high number of respondents rely more heavily on traditional methods of communications…. 29% use both fax and letter each day – although this figure rises the older the respondent.”

Finally the report identified three stereotypes in British workplaces. It’s always fun to think about which category your fellow workers fall in, so here they are:

The OAT (Old Age Technologist)
OATs are not necessarily old in age, but have more dated attitudes towards new communication technologies. OATs realise new technologies are becoming more prevalent in the workplace, but they’re dealing with this change by maintaining their tried and tested ways of communication. OATs are not sure how or why people have taken so readily to ‘new age’ communications tools.

The ESBO (Easily Sociable Behaviour Online)
Very comfortable when using modern communications, ESBOs are as happy text messaging their boss as IM’ing a client or taking part in a video conference. The ESBO zooms through the workday checking emails upwards of 300 times. Some ESBOs love the phone, some hate it, but the critical matter is that IM, text messaging and email have become more important than even their desks.

The StoIC (Slow to Implement Change)
The SToIC follows etiquette rules and doesn’t stray from accepted comfort zones. If there isn’t a generally accepted way of using a new technology the SToIC will avoid it altogether. The SToIC is still using the fax on a regular basis and would rarely consider writing a text message for work purposes.

If you are not sure which one you are, you can take an online survey to find out.

The findings of the report are available online in PDF form as an executive summary .