They can be helpful and necessary. However, I think we could all reduce the amount of emails we send & pick up the phone from time to time even go and see the person in the next office or on their ward / department.
This really hit me when I returned to work from a fabulous family holiday in February. Hundreds of emails waiting for my return some trying to arrange a meeting & the need to reply to more than 20 emails about one meeting & the dates some could make and others couldn't.
My wonderful holiday & the feeling of being well rested was fading fast & the feeling of 'I will need 2 weeks to even read all these emails', were they even still relevant.
So I decided to try something different a 'no email Wednesday' (other days are available).
I set an out of office 'saying no email Wednesday & that emails would not be looked at, please ring me or come see me' leaving all my contact details.
In the 3 weeks I have been doing this it has reduced my emails by more than 50% on Wednesdays & no extra emails on Thursday.
Staff are starting to ring and visit me and have been really positive - some have called it 'words Wednesday' & have tried it in the past.
Not one person has been negative & I have received so much support on twitter with people loving the idea.
I now love Wednesday's because I achieve more of the important things & don't worry anymore about getting emails responded to that day / next day.
All I ask is think before you email do you need to CC everyone / reply to all - what not try something different.
Who knows you may even join me because if you do email me on a Wednesday you will receive an extra email saying no email Wednesday.
Thank you for reading
@Jules.Lewis6 EOLC Facilitator at SaTH I leave you with our Trust Values.
