A sure-fire way to jolt awake an audience in a lecture about Information Overload is to mention the solution known as “No Email Day” (NED) or “Zero Email Friday”. As soon as people hear the name, there is guaranteed to be a major protest. A whole day without email? This would never work!
I wouldn’t blame you if you reacted the same way. How could it possibly work?
And yet it does work, quite well,
if you have the courage to try it and the wisdom to do it right. The problem is possibly in the name: “Zero email day” has caught nicely, but in reality the ban is only on internal email, and under specific conditions. A less catchy but more appropriate name would be “Talk to your coworkers day”!
The problem we’re trying to solve with No Email Day
Many NED implementations start when a senior manager notices the absurdity of people communicating by email when they sit right next to each other, and they think “Why don’t they just stand up and talk across the cubicle partition?!” Sounds familiar?…
Thus, the problem to be solved is not information overload in general, but the fact that people have forgotten how to talk to each other. The intent is to replace some of the email flood with voice-based conversation, either face to face or via the phone.
This is necessary because in today’s workplace people often use email as an excuse to not communicate. This fact comes up repeatedly in surveys and interviews I run for my clients: sending an email is used as a way to shift responsibility and avoid direct interaction. Solving this issue ought to not only improve communications and teamwork, but also reduce the email load: a single short phone call can replace a long thread of misunderstood queries and answers.
What No Email Day is REALLY about
A No Email Day solution typically involves a clearly communicated norm that on the given weekday (Fridays seem to be a favorite) people in the organic group in question will use voice in preference to email to communicate among themselves (i.e., within the group). Communication by email to people outside the group is still permitted.
The degree to which the norm is binding varies. Some groups make it optional, a “best effort” expectation; others might make the ban total and impose penalties on violators (I discuss examples from real companies below).
No Email Day successes and failures
Now that you know what this is, you probably ask yourself: does it work?
Yes, it does – if done right. The canonical success story is from Atlanta-based fulfillment services company PBD. Scott Dockter, the small company’s CEO, had the NED epiphany in 2006 when he noticed he was emailing his admin in the next room; he went on to implement a No Email Friday across the company – and he did it right. He discussed it with his staff, he communicated the plan to the employees, and he stuck to it in the face of objections, even when at first it turned out that some people would just queue their outgoing mails during Friday to send out in a batch right after midnight.
The outcome was spectacular. I’ve talked with Mr. Dockter – by voice – and there was no mistaking his commitment for and pride in this program. After a while, it had caused a reduction in email volume – not just on the Friday but all week long. And collaboration among coworkers had improved as they found the delight of real human contact. Customers, too, were happy and were moving to more direct conversations. People had more time to think and better work/life balance; the company has seen a big hike in productivity, customer service, and in bottom line results. You can hear Scott describe the program on national TV here.
Another early NED pioneer – in 2004 – was Jeremy Burton, then Chief Marketing Officer at Veritas software. In his case the ban was more severe, with fines (one dollar) for violators. However, from talking to Mr. Burton I found that he, too, had done it right. There was protest here too, but it was counteracted by making the program a fun thing. The annoyance of the fines was mitigated by allowing employees to vote which charity the money would be donated to; and there were tongue in cheek “Wanted” posters for email bandits as well. Overall, the program was well accepted and had good results.
Other implementations I’ve heard of were at U.S. Cellular and at CSIRO; there may be others. The one unsuccessful one I must share, with some embarrassment, was a pilot I myself had run at Intel in 2007 in a team of 150 engineers. It had failed because the group chosen was – as we realized in retrospect – unsuited to this mode: they were in meeting rooms and out of their offices most of the time, so it made no sense to tell them to go talk to each other in those very offices. On the contrary, they were in the habit of using email to manage their business remotely while stuck in all those meetings!
My recommendations
First, let me be clear: I definitely recommend you consider a No Email Day solution.
The data shows that when done with proper leadership and attention to details, the No Email Day concept can bring serious benefits that can go far beyond the immediate email traffic reduction and productivity enhancement. By encouraging coworkers to talk to each other, it can improve the overall social atmosphere in a workplace, and push the company culture towards better communication and collaboration.
If you decide to go for it, keep these caveats in mind:
- Try the concept out in a team of tens to a few hundred people. More than that will be hard to lead and follow.
- Confirm that the nature of the group involved is suited to ditching internal email once a week. As our experiment at Intel showed, this is critical.
- Realize that there will be strong opposition no matter what you do. People are literally addicted to email, and even a temporary separation from it is a big deal. It will take firm leadership to make it stick.
- You need to apply proper employee communications, change management techniques, and of course role modeling from the group’s manager.
- Make it very clear that the “No” in NED refers only to internal messaging within the group. That should get you past the first hurdle of opposition. And emphasize the part about talking to each other, using this for better problem solving and customer service, etc.
- Monitor progress – both email loads and employee reactions and feedback – and share the findings with the group.
Sounds complicated? I’m not saying it isn’t; this is one of the more challenging information overload solutions you can try, but also potentially one of the most rewarding.
If you need help with it, you know who to call!
