Things That Matter

I was just reading about an Italian fabric company that decided to run a pilot email-free week, asking employees not to exchange any internal email! Instead, they were encouraged to use traditional face-to-face contact or telephone interactions. This decision resulted from an alleged hypothesis that the great number of incoming email in one’s mailbox causes higher levels of anxiety and stress.

Just give it a thought – Isn’t it really stressful to see your inbound email increasing rapidly in the glimpse of an eye? You are in the middle of a task, trying to be focused and productive while at the same time your eye catches the email notifications that pop up non-stop. How productive is that…Don’t mention what happens if you notice “Urgent” notifiers in the subject or requests that you know they are expected “asap”! I’m sure you can recall an email from your manager arriving late at night, requesting a piece of info or an X answer… and you know…really know that he/she doesn’t like to wait until the morning to get that replied…

In any case, I’m not sure how that pilot would work for the Italian company, because an “I want it now” colleague may just pop up at no time in your office as well, pointing that finger at you. The same way a no-point email can be substituted by a no-point meeting… Same effect and maybe worst 🙂

The conclusion I arrive at is that this is a nice exercise for companies and employees to reevaluate the “disturbance or stress levels” they cause one way or the other!