Should you go for "email free days"?
Posted 25 February 2008 at 12:56PM by Ian Betteridge in Email and communications, Hints and tips
There's no doubt that email is a major time-saver in business. The ability to send a document instantly to a customer or client would have seemed like magic thirty years ago.
But the problem with email is simply that it's so powerful, it becomes addictive. According to a survey by Glasgow University, employees working on a computer check email between 30 and 40 times an hour - a major distraction.
Hence the new trend, reported by the Globe and Mail: "No email Wednesdays". And it's not just email on the desktop computer - you're also barred from checking email on your phone or BlackBerry too.
According to the Globe, the results are actually pretty positive, with employees more focused not only on the email-free day, but the rest of the week too.
Email is great. But perhaps this should remind us that, in business as in the rest of your life, there is a time to just switch off and get on with more important things.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to check my email.
Tags: blackberry, bt, bt broadbandoffice, communications, email, email wednesdays
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Comments
2. At February 26, 2008 9:08 AM, Dean wrote:
By the same logic should we have No Phone Fridays as I find the telephone more disruptive than email?
3. At February 26, 2008 9:48 AM, John Smith wrote:
I can understand, in terms of the work place, how e-mail can be distracting as it may take your attention from other duties, but there is one vital point which I feel was NOT made, or raised here.
If you are a traveling sale's person, or your buisness runs by e-mail, wither it is taking orders or general enquires from the public, it is not feasable to have a 'e-mail free day' as your buisness, and very possibly your financial well-being, may go down hill because the e-mails are not checked.
In my view, there is a time and place for e-mail sending / recieving, and that is either during work breaks or at home, not during work time. Personally, myself, I save all e-mail checking for home, not only because they might be personal e-mails, but my work blocks my specific e-mail sites I use.
With the whole build up of the, "Web 2.0" and user generated content and updates, e-mails have become an ever increasing requirment, as you need them to register with your social network site that you are hoocked on, or recieving updates from them. Some people who alway's want to be updated or "kept in the loop" I guess would find it hard to have those e-mail free day's. Though I would like to see them try!
So, overall, in my view, it would be a good thing to try an e-mail free day in maybe a small buisness that does not relay on e-mails for their buisness, but in 'real' world (different people may class that differently) this would not be so easily implemented. And you never know, some one may e-mail me about this e-mail article hehe.
4. At February 26, 2008 11:41 AM, John Smith wrote:
A question for Mr. Betteridge which i forgot to ask in my previous post. Surley an employee for BT should realise the importance of e-mail, for example, any comments posted on your blogs get sent via e-mail don't they? Before they go on the site? Surley if you took a 'e-mail free day' then comments would not get put on?
Or those customers that e-mail in their problems to the support e-mail address, or dns forms for DNS enquiries, if rest day's where to be implemented for them, imagine the chaos that would follow?
How can BT follow this advise for email free day's? Maybe as employee for BT you can answer this?
5. At February 26, 2008 5:39 PM, Eddie's Spirit wrote:
Does anyone really check their e-mail 30-40 times an hour? That seems fairly excessive to me. If your employees are doing that, I'd say it's not e-mail free Wednesdays you need, it's employees who don't skive off so much!
On a side note, any chance of putting commecnts on this blog through a spelling and grammar check before putting them on the site?
John Smith's use of apostrophes offends me.
6. At February 27, 2008 9:10 AM, Kurtis Angle wrote:
In regards to John Smith, I agree with your points completly. As for Eddie's Spirit, he is only using what is available to him in the english language!
7. At February 28, 2008 3:44 PM, genie ass wrote:
surely eddie's spirit should have spell checked his posting after making such a statement; i looked up 'commecnts' in the dictionary, and nope! it wasn't there! maybe he should spend no email wednesdays workinf on how not to be a hypocrite ;)
8. At February 29, 2008 12:18 PM, Hulk 'The Real American' Hogan wrote:
I agree genie ass with the 'commecnt' you made. Hypocrite in the making? Totally! A true hulkomaniac John Smith is, should not be put down!
- Hulk Hogan
9. At February 29, 2008 1:39 PM, Rob wrote:
I think email is a big part of most businesses now, something we'll have to live with, love it or hate it, maybe a bigger workplace problem is the staff that spend half their day surfing the net or replying to blog sites?
10. At March 4, 2008 2:52 PM, Ian Betteridge wrote:
John - We could check comments, as they can be approved by the web, although we'd miss out on instant notification of them being here.
Email is, of course, an important tool for business communications. But the point of doing an "email free day" is to remind you that it's not the only one, and not always the best way of getting your message across. Picking up the phone can be far better in some circumstances - and knowing what channel to use when is a key business communications skill.
We've actually written about this over on BT Business Insight - have a look at http://insight.bt.com/articles/Create-effective-communications/ for more details.
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1. At February 26, 2008 3:35 AM, kim wrote: