E-mail ban for council staff

The ban is designed to improve communications

Council workers have been banned from sending internal e-mails for one day a week - in an attempt to improve staff communications.

Workers at Liverpool City Council are being urged to go back-to-basics to liaise with their colleagues every Wednesday.

The electronic revolution is to be temporarily cast aside on the orders of chief executive David Henshaw.

He wants staff to solve problems more efficiently, rather than passing them on to a colleague via e-mail.

Too often people are retreating behind e-mails and forwarding problems on to other colleagues without solving them

David Henshaw, chief executive

External e-mails are still allowed but workers are being encouraged to speak face-to-face or on the phone rather than hitting the send button.

The 5,000 employees who are on the e-mail system at the council send a total of about 40,000 messages a day.

Mr Henshaw said: "We have introduced this because too often people are retreating behind e-mails and forwarding problems on to other colleagues without solving them.

"E-mails help staff to communicate faster and more accurately.

"But they can hold up people from doing their jobs, especially if they spend hours typing in e-mails when picking up the phone would have got it done in 30 seconds."