Fancy getting away from email?
The BBC reports today on companies which are instituting “no-email” days in order, so as – they claim – to “increase productivity”.
Some of the companies mentioned include Intel, PBD, Deloitte and Touche. They’ve picked Friday. That doesn’t seem a very good idea to me. As Friday is the last day of the week then not answering an email on Friday means Monday will be even more of a catch-up and you’ve delayed replying for THREE days not one.
Good management of email (as some of the interviewees in the BBC report point out) is a far better option than simply forcing people to ignore it. Email is a business tool like any other. Use it in a way that suits your working practices, whether that means you check it twice a day or rather more often (apparently some workers check their email 30-40 times per hour – that can’t be efficient!).