No holiday e-mail break for Americans: survey

The Harris Interactive survey conducted for Xobni, an email software firm, found that 59 percent of employed American adults will consult work emails over the holidays.

Fifty-five percent will check work emails at least once a day and 28 percent will do so multiple times throughout the day, the survey found.

Forty-one percent said they were annoyed, frustrated or resentful over receiving work emails from a co-worker or a client while on vacation.

Nineteen percent, on the other hand, said they were "thankful" or "relieved" at having the distraction of receiving work emails while on holiday.

Forty-two percent of those who check work email while on vacation said staying up-to-date on email eases their workload when they return to the office.

Men are more likely to check work email while on holiday than women, the survey found, with 67 percent of men doing so and just 50 percent of women.

The online survey of 2,179 adults aged 18 and older was conducted for Xobni ("inbox" spelled backwards) from November 5 to November 9.

(c) 2010 AFP