Email is the scourge of the modern office environment.

The senior execs are always braying about more productivity but refuse to turn off the pipeline blocker that is email notifications. (Honestly I think it's a control issue.)

If it's so urgent that it requires an immediate response, it should be an in person visit or phone call.

If not, let people get to it when they're ready, and accept the fact that it's not urgent.

Sometimes I swear half the fucking office building is just sitting at their desks repeatedly hitting refresh on outlook waiting for the other half to get back to them.

Anyone who wants to know how to deal with emails properly should read Getting Things Done by Dave Allen. It's the reason why I (used to) get to go home on time every day while my colleagues grumbled about all the shit they hadn't done yet (while still completing my full workload).

When I found that book, my workload didn't change but my stress went waaaay down.