"Stand up and walk or pick up and talk"

"Stand up and walk or pick up and talk"

Datamail includes 'email free day' as part of its healthy balance wellbeing 2004.

Auckland, 27 May 2004 - Datamail, a subsidiary of NZ Post, has adopted an innovative approach to educating its nationwide workforce of more than 380 people about the importance of maintaining a healthy outlook at work. The fortnight long programme, wellbeing 2004, plans to raise awareness of both statutory health and safety issues in the workplace as well as advice on how to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

The programme's activities range from fire extinguisher demonstrations, healthy eating cooking workshops, yoga classes, free massage sessions and advice on how to quit smoking and drink less. However, today marks 'email free day', when staff are being encouraged to use more traditional forms of communication, particularly within the office. Datamail is urging staff to be aware of the purpose of each email and consider carefully whether it is absolutely necessary.

Jan Corrick, Manager of People and Performance at Datamail explains; "There are two main reasons why we are running this initiative; one is the opportunity email creates for miscommunication. It can be incredibly difficult to appreciate the tone and intention of email - it is a very flat form of communication. It is not uncommon to have disputes arise over email only to discover the parties are actually in full agreement once you get them talking to each other! The other reason is the sense of urgency emails create; in a high tech world, people expect responses and reactions online much faster than offline. The pressure this places on people is another cause of stress and anxiety in the workplace."

This is the fourth 'no email day' Datamail has organised.