Those wanting to address important workplace issues should stick to discussing matters in person than resorting to email communication, it has been revealed.

Impact Factory senior partner Bronia Szczygiel said that professional relationships would suffer as a result of digital exchanges, particularly as many fail to interpret emails in the correct tone and style.

Furthermore, lying is much easier to get away with in an email, she said.

Ms Szczygiel said that many would benefit from sleeping on a tricky email before sending a reply as it could be interpreted in a different way to its intentions.

She continued: "To combat the trend employers could set a policy of 'the best surprise is no surprise' so issues don't go in an email unless they've first been discussed face-to-face."

In a joint report between three American universities entitled Being Honest Online: The Finer Points of Lying in Online Ultimatum Bargaining, the ease in lying over email was highlighted, with researchers adding that many felt justified when sending falsehoods over the internet.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).