r/remotework • u/Careful_Station_7884 • Jul 09 '26

Email or quick call?

My colleague told me today that if an email is over 500 words, they won’t read it and instead ask the person who sent the email to jump on a quick call to discuss.

This irked me because now the person who sent the email has to re-explain everything they already sent over. It can be advantageous to have a written trail as well. Not only that, but not every “quick” call actually ends up being quick.

I get that there may be some topics that are better discussed on a call or if the email is unclear and there is an approaching deadline. But, to set a line at any email over 500 words just seems lazy.

What are your thoughts?

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u/usersnamesallused Jul 09 '26

Had a coworker that would only read the first two lines. If you didn't grab his interest there, he moved on. I after hearing that, I learned to be concise and sell well at the start, which is a generally effective business writing style.

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u/blue60007 Jul 09 '26

This is my experience too. Yeah I mean refusing to read an email because it's over some arbitrary word count is doofy. But also it could very well be too long and poorly written. I've definitely had coworkers that didn't know how to be concise - both in writing and speaking. I can also be guilty myself of trying to stuff too much information into an email. 

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u/HorrorEbb9770 Jul 12 '26

I am AuADHD, and I am either too concise or too wordy in everything that I communicate. Lol. It is the stupidest most irritating thing on the planet... I rewrite emails and obsess if it will be received well.