I’m not a fan of email. Social is so much more immediate and conversational. And then there’s the phone. Seems like Dailmer is going after one of my habits – deleting vacation email. Good move.

I don’t understand the complaints on returning from vacation about a full inbox. Just delete it all. If it was that important, they’ll be back. Dailmer is going to do it in advance for their employees.

Atos, an international information technology company, plans to phase out all e-mails among employees by the end of 2013 and rely instead on other forms of communication. And starting in the new year, employees at Daimler, the German automaker, can have incoming e-mail automatically deleted during vacations so they do not return to a flooded in-box. An automatic message tells the sender which person is temporarily dealing with the employee’s e-mail.

The idea that this will somehow help employees lead balanced lives is right.

Employees, husbands, wifes… we all need to be encouraged to make healthy choices – it won’t always happen on its own. Entrepreneurial cultures are often high-growth and favor always on work practices. More established cultures tend to be less so. Either way the practices start with the manager setting boundaries. And the more common those boundaries are across the business, the more likely chance of them working for everyone.

I’m just looking forward to the day that email goes the way of the Fax.