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Company bans email for a week in experiment to encourage employees to talk more

Overwhelmed by your emails? This office tried out an experimental solution.
/ Source: TODAY

We all know the feeling when our inboxes are overflowing with email — that tide of anxiety that rises with each new unread message.

And so much in-office communication happens over email these days that a lot of the messages spiking your stress levels are coming from coworkers you're likely sitting within sneezing-on distance of.

So one company decided to try an experiment: For one week, Gabel, a home goods manufacturer in Italy, declared an email-free week, and asked employees to find another way to communicate with each other.

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The experiment, which company president Michele Moltrasio told the BBC was tricky for employees to embrace at first, turned out to be a success: "They are rediscovering the pleasure of meeting and talking rather than writing," he said.

Less email sounds like a win to us! After all, any way to reduce workplace stress — which has been found to be as dangerous to one's health as secondhand smoke — Where do we sign up?