Phones 4U boss bans emails

A TELECOMS magnate has banned his staff from sending each other e-mails. John Caudwell, who has built an £850m fortune in the communications industry, believes the move will save each employee three hours a day - and his company £1m a month.

The head of Phones 4U has ordered his 2,500 employees to speak face-to-face or use the telephone when they need to communicate.

He said e-mail is used as a ' conversational tool', often to address a colleague sitting a few feet away. As a result, workers waste time typing or waiting for replies, when it would be faster to discuss the matter in person. Personal e-mails are also 'inevitably flying around', making the system even less efficient.

Caudwell, 50, who has always shunned e- mail himself, said: 'Management and staff were showing signs of being constrained by e-mail proliferation. Service par excellence needs 100% focus, and e-mail was showing the potential to get in the way - but not in my business.

'Phones 4U staff have been told to get off the keyboards, get face-to-face or on the phone to colleagues. The quality and efficiency of communication have increased tremendously in one fell swoop. Things are getting done and people aren't tied to their PCs.

'The net result is that the business has been dramatically liberated, leaving the typical Phones 4U person with an extra three hours a day to concentrate fully and without distraction on sales and customer service.'

Customers can still contact the company using e-mail and Phones 4U staff still receive a daily briefing e-mail with information on stock levels and human resources matters.

A spokesman said: 'The ban was imposed after the problem was identified in management meetings. It can take ten times as long to write an e-mail as to say the words. And then there is a longer wait for the other person to respond to the e-mail. It was being used in ways which worked against the efficiency of e-mail.'

The Caudwell Group, of which Mr Caudwell owns 97%, is one of the biggest mobile phone retailers in the UK. Within 13 years of launching the company in 1987, it was taking more than £1bn a year.

Last month Mr Caudwell, Britain's 26th richest man, sold his mobile phone service business Singlepoint to Vodafone for £405m.

Renowned for a flamboyant lifestyle, the multi-millionaire drives a £250,000 Bentley and flies to customer meetings by helicopter. But he cycles to work.

The former car salesman has had problems in his private life in recent years. He separated from his wife, the mother of three of his children, several years ago and began a relationship with model Claire Johnson, 33, with whom he still lives.

Last year, however, he fathered a child with concert violinist Jane Burgess. The pair had a public war of words after she gave birth to his daughter, Scarlett, the result of a three-month affair. He accused her of breaking a promise to take the morning-after pill.

His e-mail ban is not unique. Some City firms have attempted e-mail-free Fridays, although experts say they were not a complete success. Last year Liverpool City Council staff were banned from sending internal e-mails on a Wednesday.

Research by recruitment agency Stopgap has found e-mail messages often create the wrong impression or cause unintended offence. Brief messages often cause friction, and most people prefer to receive letters or phone calls, it found.