The Italian company banning emails to reduce stress

An Italian firm has discouraged employees from using emails in a one-week attempt to reduce stress levels.

A home textiles company in the northern Como region, called Gabel, found that employees were having difficulty managing the vast amount of emails during the working day.

The results of the consultation prompted the company to trial an “email-free” week until 13 November, which was announced in an… er… email.

Managing director Emilio Colombo wrote:

Together we will begin the following experiment, which will take us back in time to when people talked more.


>We invite you not to use email for internal communications (between colleagues at the same location), in favour of a more direct and immediate contact.

During this week, employees will seek to meet directly if possible and necessary, rather than using digital mediums of communication.

Michele Moltrasio, president of Gabel, told BBC News:

They are rediscovering the pleasure of meeting and talking rather than writing.

A study by the University of British Columbia, last year, found that stress levels were lowered “significantly” when people checked their emails less.

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