The two-email limit – do you agree?

The UK Director of Public Prosecutions recently made a radical rule.

He put a ‘two-email limit’ on lawyers discussing action with police investigators.

If police haven’t sent enough facts for a decision, lawyers get one reply email, and then they must pick up the phone.

His reasoning? He’s tired of staff ‘batting emails to and fro’ when many issues are solved faster with a phone call.

I think it’s a great call. What do you reckon?

But I also know many people HATE picking up the phone.

I know because I used to be one of them. In my teens and twenties, even the thought of making a call made me feel physically sick.

Practice and office life eventually cured me. But today, calls are rarer, offices are quieter and for many people phone fear is real.

Every week Gen Z clients tell me they’d rather eat their own head than make a call. It feels unpredictable and exposing. We’ve raised a generation brilliant at crafting messages but under-practised at real-time conversation.

Up to two-thirds of Gen Z and younger millennials admit they fear immediate, unscripted calls.

Meanwhile, their managers are tearing their hair out at endless email chains, misunderstandings and avoidable conflict.

So how do we take the fear out of the phone?

If you’re phone-phobic, reduce the unknowns for yourself. Draft a loose script. Anticipate questions. Keep a safety phrase ready: ‘Great question — let me check that and follow up after this call.’ And yes, you can message people first to check it’s a good time to speak.

Managers – explain the why. Show that this isn’t just Gen Xers wanging on about how ‘Things were much better in my day..’  It’s actually backed by data:

• Voice increases empathy and helps resolve issues faster

• People interpret email tone correctly only about half the time

• In one workplace survey, nearly 90% of employees said misunderstandings often begin over email

Emails carry information, but voices carry intent.

Do you love the phone or hate it?