People manage their email in very individualistic ways. But recent ‘research’ identifies four basic types of email user, with the survey’s author, unified messaging vendor TopCall, unable to resist the temptation to associate these with animal behaviour.

First there are those that file their messages carefully (magpies). Just over 90% of those questioned use more than 10 separate files. Just under half feel so overwhelmed by information that they ignore new messages (ostriches). And over half of those surveyed amass a huge amount of email, refusing to get rid of old messages just in case they might need them (squirrels). In fact, 8% could point to over 2,000 emails in their inboxes.

The upshot: workers waste time searching through their messages, or miss important emails. “Ignoring messages and letting them build up can actually add to the stress of your job and make the situation worse,” says Mark Reynolds, TopCall’s MD. His suggestion: give people the option of listening to rather than reading the contents of some of their emails. Making them bats, perhaps.