I saw this question on LinkedIn and thought it fit nicely with what I’d written before, so I thought I’d expand on those thoughts.
Email Hours: Like Working Hours, How about Email Hours?
Email Hours: Everyone of us receive emails ranging from 25-100 a day and some emails take a lot of time to read, digest, respond, clarification, etc. From my experience if someone talks to a person in-person the number of emails can be shortened so how about this idea of companies implementing EMAIL HOURS or NO EMAIL HOURS. What do you think?
My answer:
I’m not sure we could institute email hours, but I would suggest using some guidelines to address the inefficiency of email in general. To sit in front of your email all day or jump all over your Blackberry is a drain. I tell people now that email is the most inefficient way to communicate with me. See me in person or call me. I am not always available, that’s just a fact of my busy schedule.
You have to train people that just because they don’t get an answer in five minutes they don’t need to send another email or call you or walk down the hall because not everything is urgent, but in this world people think everything is immediate.
As for the person that responded, what if you miss an important email?! Well, if it is really important, someone will find you…if someone is waiting on a decision and can’t take action because I didn’t reply to their email then they should be fired. Call me or have my assistant find me if the building is on fire and I’m the only one with the fire extinguisher.
Here are more of my requirements regarding email and Blackberries:
Do not check your email while we are in a meeting. I need your attention or I wouldn’t have requested your time. Focus!
Do clean out your email box. The clutter can be overwhelming.
