Something for the weekend: Typically, many employees will spend a good portion of their working week emailing or conversing with colleagues. Chances are, similar phrases or cliches will emerge, but just how frequently do they come up?
Instant Offices carried out an analysis of one million real work emails to find this out. it discovered that ‘reaching out’ appeared 6,117 times, followed by variations of ‘follow up’ (5,755 mentions) and ‘check in’ (4,286).
Furthermore, ‘circle back’ showed up in 533 emails, alongside ‘please advise’ and ‘hope you’re doing well, hope this email finds you well, and hope all is well’.
These phrases appeared in nearly 25,000 emails, equating to around one in every 50 messages.
Within its report, Instant Offices also noted what certain phrases can sound like and offered some alternatives to use instead.
It stated that ‘Just a friendly reminder’ can sound like ‘You’ve dropped the ball’, offering the following statement as an alternative: ‘Hi [Name], just checking you saw my note on X. Can you let me know by [time]?’
‘As per my previous email’ could sound like ‘I already told you this, why weren’t you paying attention?’ It suggested using ‘Re-sharing the details on X below for ease, shout if anything’s unclear.’
Meanwhile, instead of ‘circling back on this’, an alternative could be ‘Quick follow-up on X, are you still happy to [next step]? If timings have changed, let me know.’
Ben Wright, global head of partnerships at Instant Offices, said: “In hybrid and remote teams, where there are fewer spontaneous conversations to soften the edges, a single sharp sentence can replay in someone’s mind all day. Clear, jargon-light, genuinely respectful emails don’t just get faster, better replies. They help create a culture where people don’t feel they have to hide behind ‘as per my last email’, because saying what they really mean is okay.
“Leaders set the emotional temperature. Every message from a manager either normalises panic, blame and ambiguity, or shows that clarity and calm. They can demonstrate how everyone else could talk in a world where digital overload and rushed communication are directly linked to burnout, disengagement and mistakes.”
Communication, particularly when it’s not face-to-face and can’t always convey tone, can sometimes be tricky. Sounds like these are some helpful alternative examples for employers to use!
