Workers
at Nestle Rowntree have been banned from using e-mails on Fridays in an effort
to improve face-to-face communication and creativity at the firm.
The
initiative, which has been introduced in Nestle Rowntree’s marketing department
and throughout the food division, was the brainchild of the company’s marketing
director Andrew Harrison.
Paul
Kirkwood, a spokesman for Nestle Rowntree, explained, “He thought there would
be a benefit to creativity by encouraging people to talk to each other rather
than simply dashing something off on e-mail.
“It
is obviously better to talk to someone face-to-face sometimes rather than by
e-mail where the nuances of what someone is saying can be lost.
“I
think there is a danger of travelling too far down the e-mail road. You get to
the stage where people e-mail each other when they are only two desks apart.”
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