Coffee keeps Britain working

According to PR Fire, new research conducted by Lyons Coffee, highlights several interesting office habits of British office workers including the fact that 12.8 million office workers make a coffee to gather their thoughts during the day before returning to work. It was found that following this 'coffee break', 19% take a toilet break and 14 % take a cigarette break. Brits are also allegedly claiming back lost hours from occasions where they take less than half an hour to have their lunch; A reported 7.3 million lost hours...

With the change in financial health of the country, more and more employees are reluctant to take breaks lest they be viewed as not being as hardworking as their other colleagues and thus lose their jobs. 45% of 45-54 year olds surveyed were found to be more likely not to leave the office for lunch. Psychologist Donna Dawson said,

"The present credit crunch has made people cut back on extras such as take-away coffees, and it has also made the office a much more competitive place with money tight and people afraid to lose their jobs, workers want to be seen to be prudent and company-loyal, by cutting their lunch-hour and breaks to a minimum. Older people, who are closer to redundancy and also wiser in the ways of office politics will be keener to do this. However, research shows that if a 15-minute break is not taken every two hours, then concentration and productivity actually go down."

So the humble coffee can take some of the credit for keeping office workers fresh and focussed during a long, hard day at work and aiding in productivity...

Very interesting statistics can be found at the site. I particularly like the one where it was found that men were found to be more likely to take FULL lunch breaks than women, with a 5% difference in the figures. Make of that what you will gents!