In a 2014 press release, Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, announced that its employees were free to have their email automatically deleted when they were on vacation.
Said a Daimler representative, “Our employees should relax on holiday and not read work-related emails.”
The sender will receive an alert saying that their email will be deleted and who to contact during the vacationer’s absence. This allows staff to enjoy their vacations without the psychic burden of returning to an inbox filled with email received while away.
This is a direct approach to dealing with the always on climate our devices create and the stresses that accompany it.
By setting their email this way prior their departure, employees are using Principle 9 – Prior Counteraction, counteracting the accumulation of correspondence and delays to others’ work that would otherwise occur.