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Chicago Staffing Firm Institutes 'No-Email Day'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- This just may be the next workplace challenge.

CBS2's Roseanne Tellez reports, workers at a local staffing and recruitment firm gave something up that no office can do without for long--email.

The goal is to win people over with that one-on-one contact.

On the surface, shutting down all email for any amount of time may not not sound like a huge sacrifice, but most of these employees don't remember life before email.

"Nothing irks me more then two co-workers sitting 20 feet away and having an email conversation," said Tom Gimbel, founder and CEO of the LaSalle Network. "So we say, you know, enough of that for one day. We can see if we can generate business the old fashioned way."

Gimbel says nowadays, people get lost in their technology.

"Email is a necessary evil. It's great for documentation but it doesn't win people over. Voices when people over," he added.

So Gimbel decided to see how the company could generate business the old-fashioned way.

How's the response been so far?

For millennials, it's an eyeopening experience. "...and not being able to check the inbox is a little anxiety-provoking," said employee Kitty Brandtner.

The daylong email ban also includes instant messaging. "We're trying to get up and go to people in the office to have those live conversations," Gimbel said.

"For me, it's a better way of building relationships," one employee said.

Email has several other drawbacks, as Paul Wallenberg  describes. "In phone conversations and live conversations it's much easier to gauge people's tone. Email leaves a little to the imagination and you might interpret something incorrectly."

"Having that face-to-face interaction is so much better 'cause your building that relationship," an employee added.

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