Sorting out spam email costs the average recruitment agency 392 in lost productivity for each of its employees – every year.

New research reveals up to three out of every four emails received by businesses are spam – and a huge amount of time is wasted reading and deleting them.

Specialist recruitment computer support company Ulysses IT believes sorting out spam is an easy way for businesses to get more out of their staff as the credit crunch bites.

Technical director Peter Turner said: "Business is tight for many recruitment agencies at the moment, and they need to get the most out of their people. Having them waste time dealing with spam is just money down the drain.

"There's no way to stop spam, but it's fairly easy to deal with it more effectively. If employees don't have to see spam, they won't have to waste time deleting it."

Any email which is unsolicited can be considered to be spam.

However most people know it as adverts to buy pornography, or attempts to get your bank account details.

The new research, by online security firm PandaLabs, revealed that 74 per cent of all emails received are now spam.

Ulysses IT specialises in computer support for businesses operating within the recruitment sector.

The business was established in 1998 and operates as an outsourced IT department for clients, mostly on a pay as you go basis.