If your work BlackBerry leaves you feeling that your job never ends, there may be some measure of relief on the horizon as more companies agree to tune out emails after hours.

Volkswagen employees in Germany will no longer receive company emails 30 minutes after their shift ends and they won't start up again until 30 minutes before work under a union agreement, the BBC reported Friday.

The decision comes after complaints that the work and home lives of employees are blurred, causing stress and negatively affecting decision making.

Time to ban email?

Criticism levelled recently by French technology giant Atos CEO Thierry Breton, who said internal emails were "wasting the lives" of employees and the company would ban them in 2014, caused a flurry of debate.

Mainstream media wrote editorials and the blogosphere lit up with some calling the move "bold" and others saying it was "stupid" and would be ditched before the deadline.

Atos is looking at alternatives to email such as instant messaging, but will still use it to connect with other companies and customers.

Industry analysts suggest the discussion exposes a problem that's existed since smartphones became ubiquitous in the workplace – employees need downtime to be healthy and time to reflect on a proper answer, instead of an instantaneous response.

Many plan to check email over holidays: study

Research conducted by The Work Foundation, a U.K. industry think tank, found as many as two thirds of all employees want to respond to emails immediately, with one-third checking them every 15 minutes.

It recommended companies have a policy in place stating clearly how and when employees are expected to be online.

And, another U.K. study found work "email obsession" will invade many people's lives during the holiday season.

Security firm Securenvoy's study questioned 1,000 full-time workers and found those between the ages of 18 and 24 were more likely to read work emails over Christmas.

More than 50 per cent of those checking their inbox will be employees worried about losing their jobs.

The study also showed 31 per cent of workers plan to check their emails occasionally over the holidays, while 15 per cent said they would be reading them frequently.

Interestingly, one in five said not checking work emails would leave them at a competitive disadvantage.

About 34 per cent of those surveyed said they had no intention of checking work emails during the holidays.

Workers over the age of 50 were less inclined to check messages.

While email after hours remains a concern, analysts point out the global economy works in different time zones, and it's likely 24/7 email is here to stay.