In the UK, Liverpool City Council has banned staff from using email on Wednesdays in a bid to stop staff "hiding behind emails" and avoiding work.
Council chief executive David Henshaw said too many staff were using electronic communications to forward problems on to colleagues rather than taking responsibility themselves. He said emails can sometimes stop people from doing their job properly, "especially if they spend hours typing in emails when picking up the phone would get it done in 30 seconds".
The council says it will repeat the experiment every week for the foreseeable future until the email culture changes.
Council workers who do send emails will not be disciplined, but will be strongly encouraged not to touch their Outlook inbox. The mail moratorium only applies to internal communication, with workers still allowed to reach the outside world by email.
The new policy runs counter to the claims of the software providers, such as Microsoft and Lotus, who say their "productivity tools" increase the efficiency of office workers.