British Office Workers are Suffering from the David Brent Effect

The survey of 3,000 UK employees by online learning specialist, SkillSoft, also found that women are far more likely to feel valued by their employers - 61.5 per cent against 49 per cent of men.

People who work in public services get the most encouragement from bosses ñ 66 per cent say their employers are happy for them to develop their skills compared to 56 per cent of people working for private firms.

Workers in public services also receive more opportunities for on-the-job training - 40 per cent say they get formal training and mentoring while just 31 per cent in private firms receive the same level of support.

Kevin Young, managing director of SkillSoft, said: Itís evident from this study that a large number of people are not being given the opportunity to live up to their potential at work; particularly in the private sector.

Just consider the productivity gains that could be achieved if UK businesses stepped up their commitment to developing their employeesí skills.

64 per cent of those questioned say their employer allows them no time in the working day for their professional development.

And 89 per cent of workers would prefer to be in control of their own learning.

Kevin Young said: This is in line with some research we did last year amongst employees already using e-learning, the majority of whom were taking control of their own professional development by accessing online learning in the office before or after work, or at home in the evenings and at weekends.

The effect on their jobs was evident; nearly everyone interviewed could give practical examples of how they had applied their new knowledge at work.

This latest study shows that 53 per cent already willingly spend their own free time on professional development.

But this figure could be much higher ñ many workers say theyíd spend their spare time studying if their bosses allowed them time to learn in the office as well.

Almost half (43 per cent) of employees reckon they need to spend just 2-4 hours a week on training to achieve their full potential.

When asked what sort of training they needed, 45 per cent said they would like more training in communications and customer relations skills and 50 per cent wanted more management and leadership skills training.

Unsurprisingly, most workers think they should be paid more - 67.5 per cent say they deserve bigger pay packets.

But despite this, the majority of Brits enjoy their work - 43 per cent say they get some pleasure from their work and 40 per cent go as far as to say they enjoy their jobs a lot.

Only 10 per cent said they donít enjoy their job at all.