End Holiday Email Tyranny via Auto-Delete
Metropolis by Fritz Lang
The forefathers of the eight-hour-movement are probably turning in their graves, as new research found that the average worker is almost umbilically tied to their work email: 13.5 or more hours per work week, with another 5 hours spent on the weekends.
In an effort to end the tyranny of email during holidays, German automaker Daimler is introducing a new program called “Mail on Holiday,” where all incoming email is auto-deleted. According to a Financial Times report:
Employees can now choose to have all their incoming emails automatically deleted when they are on holiday so they do not return to a bulging in-box.
The sender is notified by the “Mail on Holiday” assistant that the email has not been received and is invited to contact a nominated substitute instead. Employees can therefore return from their summer vacation to an empty inbox.
“Our employees should relax on holiday and not read work-related emails,” said Wilfried Porth, board member for human resources. “With ‘Mail on Holiday’ they start back after the holidays with a clean desk. There is no traffic jam in their inbox. That is an emotional relief.”
Radical, yes. But when email consumes 28 percent of the average workweek, desperate measures can go a long way to restoring much-needed balance, especially during downtime.
