Search
Close this search box.

Office workers confess their most shameful sins

city worker

UK office workers share the most shameful things they’ve done during the 9 to 5 in a new online survey. Dodging tea and coffee duties and faking illness topped the table of transgressions. Brits wage war with their colleagues, penning passive aggressive post-it notes and commandeering their co-workers’ lunches.

A new survey spills the beans on Britain’s most badly behaved office workers. 10,000 people in the UK were asked by online coffee retailer Novell Coffee which odious office worker sins they’d committed – and the results are in. Weeks after the Daily Express shared new data suggesting Brits are taking less time off work in the wake of Brexit, this new study shows we’re finding plenty of ways to misbehave at work – on top of pulling the occasional sickie. Just under a third of respondents said they don’t pull their weight when it comes to making teas and coffees – making this the nation’s ultimate office worker sin. Workers in the capital are more conscientious when it comes to making cuppas, with only 20 percent of Londoners avoiding kettle duty – while a substantial 39 percent of North East locals aren’t doing their fair share in the office kitchenette.

Taking liberties
The results of the survey revealed many Brits are pushing their luck when it comes to sick days, online activity and what’s expected of them during meetings. A surprising 27 percent of all respondents confessed to faking illness to get a day off – and with almost half of 18-24 year olds admitting they’ve pulled sickies in the past, it looks like Generation Y has a lot to answer for. 21 percent of all office workers surveyed went public about abusing their ‘incognito’ privileges through some inappropriate internet browsing – whereas a mere 6 percent of people in the North East admitted to this particular indiscretion. A further 19 percent of Brits revealed they’ve fallen asleep during meetings in the past – a habit that’s especially common among Britain’s male workforce. Compared with a relatively low 10 percent of women surveyed, almost a quarter of men confessed to catching some shuteye during office meetings.

Office worker warfare
With the dust beginning to settle on #hamgate, one interesting outcome of the survey saw office workers across the UK declare war on their colleagues – penning passive aggressive post-it notes to their co-workers and even taking other people’s lunch from the office fridge. Ten percent of all respondents said they’d written emotionally charged post-its to their colleagues in the past – with East Midlands locals proving to have the loosest lips of all. The English adage ‘finders, keepers’ really resonated with 8 percent of Brits surveyed, who confessed to having stolen and eaten a co-worker’s lunch at least once – and in the East of England, 17 percent of respondents declared any food in the office fridge fair game. It looks like employers across the UK have their work cut out for them when it comes to brokering peace among Britain’s white collar workforce – but in typical British fashion, it seems there’s nothing that can’t be solved by popping the kettle on.

Managing Director at Novell Coffee, Phil White, said: “There are some surprising results in this survey – the most apparent thing being the difference in office coffee when you compare the North and the South. In London, more and more companies are installing bean-to-cup machines in their offices and I think this is reflected in the results – with many more employees in areas like the North East avoiding their tea and coffee making duties, where this job still generally revolves around a kettle!”

Topline results: Respondents were able to select multiple answers to the following question:

Which of the following office worker sins have you committed?

  • Avoiding tea and coffee duties: 30.7 percent
  • Faking illness: 26.9 percent
  • Inappropriate internet browsing: 20.7 percent
  • Sleeping during meetings: 18.5 percent
  • Writing passive aggressive post-it notes: 10.0 percent
  • Eating a co-worker’s lunch: 8.0 percent

Read more

Latest News

Read More

Rise in recruitment fraud must urgently be checked

28 March 2024

Newsletter

Receive the latest HR news and strategic content

Please note, as per the GDPR Legislation, we need to ensure you are ‘Opted In’ to receive updates from ‘theHRDIRECTOR’. We will NEVER sell, rent, share or give away your data to third parties. We only use it to send information about our products and updates within the HR space To see our Privacy Policy – click here

Latest HR Jobs

Responsible for delivery of a full HR operational advisory service to the Property Management Division, working closely with the Head of Division to lead the

Responsible for delivery of a full HR operational advisory service to the Property Management Division, working closely with the Head of Division to lead the

Responsible for delivery of a full HR operational advisory service to the Property Management Division, working closely with the Head of Division to lead the

Responsible for delivery of a full HR operational advisory service to the Property Management Division, working closely with the Head of Division to lead the

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE