No ' e-mail Fridays' at one Tulsa company

E-mails help us communicate. In fact, e-mail is the primary means of communication in many businesses. But one Tulsa company believes we e-mail too much. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Rick Wells says

Friday, September 17th 2004, 10:12 am

By: News On 6

E-mails help us communicate. In fact, e-mail is the primary means of communication in many businesses. But one Tulsa company believes we e-mail too much.

News on 6 reporter Rick Wells says we all get dozens of e-mails everyday, many of them from people in the same office. One company has taken action to do something about it, with e-mail free Fridays.

At US Cellular the company has instituted no e-mail Fridays. John Pellow with US Cellular: "Get out. Get out see the stores get to the front line. Visit with out associates in person instead of e-mailing back and forth so much."

They say its working; this conversation might have been carried out in an e-mail on any other day. On no e-mail Friday its face to face. E-mails have become a primary means of communication. Some predict 5 billion e-mails will clog the system everyday by the end of next year, so policies that ensure the benefits outweigh the disadvantages is important.

John Pellow: "Really getting back to the basics and working more face to face." Employees we talked to seem to like this new Friday thing. Marisa Durrin was getting some filing done, and was very happy to show me her empty e-mail inbox. She says if something's real important she prints it out and hand carries it. Veronica Morman's inbox was empty too.

Tammy Collins: "It's really helped having an e-mail free Friday where you don't have to constantly check 'em." She says it's given her one day a week when she can really focus on her paperwork.

US Cellular is so happy with the way this has gone, they're even thinking of beginning a no-meeting day once a week.

Now no e-mail Fridays must make Mondays difficult, they say no, it hasn't happened. It's been so successful in fact, the policy's permanent thru the end of the year.