Yolk takes hard line with email switch-off

Don’t send an email to anyone at recruitment consultancy Yolk Recruitment this week – the firm has placed a blanket embargo on all such communication for five days in an efficiency drive.
Wed, 6 Feb 2013
Don’t send an email to anyone at recruitment consultancy Yolk Recruitment this week – the firm has placed a blanket embargo on all such communication for five days in an efficiency drive.

The company, whose headquarters are in Cardiff, says that only around 10% of emails they receive will be of relevance to consultants, with a huge time investment needed to manage and clear the unwanted messages, many of which come from colleagues. Yolk estimates there is a cumulated 14 days a year spent on such tasks per staff member.

In a press statement – which Yolk had offered to get to Recruiter via LinkedIn messaging – director Duncan Powell says: “As it so easy to send an email we’ve created a culture of over sharing and ambiguity. It’s had such a negative effect on our business we’re placing an embargo on emails during core hours on our consultants.”

Powell also says that as a policy, the firm would never send rejection emails to candidates.

The company has set up a website for its Email Epidemic campaign, and will be appearing on BBC Radio Wales tomorrow [7 February] to discuss the issue.

  • Do you spend too much time scrambling around replying to emails? Might your staff enjoy such an approach – or might they become dissatisfied and ripe for poaching? Let us know below…

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