Permission to Delete Out of Office Emails - Granted
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
One of my favorite counter-cultural activities is companies or individuals who go on vacation and auto-delete emails that are received when they are out of the office. Many workers don’t use all of their vacation days, and a big reason why they don’t use their time is because of the mountain of emails they have waiting for them when they return. Well, some companies and individuals have found a way to eliminate that issue.
This TED Talk references (at around the 6:25 mark) a company that sets out of office messages for employees on vacation that lets people know that the person they emailed is on vacation until [date] and that this email has been deleted. They encourage email senders to email someone else now or to send the email again after the date when the employee returns. You can hear audience members’ brains exploding when they hear such a revolutionary idea as deleting emails like that. And this company isn’t alone. I’ve encountered stories of NPR editors and Arianna Huffington’s employees doing the same thing. The mere thought of companies taking care of employees like this is so refreshing.
If you struggle with never taking time off because of the fear of an avalanche of emails when you return, perhaps implementing an email deleting out of office message could be an idea for you to explore. If you work for a company that has never tried such a strategy, a conversation with your manager could start an avenue of possibility for employees to really be able to log off and unwind.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team