Half of Britainís Workforce ëTake Libertiesí

A new study by an independent online HR consultancy has revealed that more than half of Britons ‘take liberties’ when at work. The research found that some of the most common acts of ‘taking liberties,’ as described by British employees, was the use of the work phones for personal calls and taking longer lunch breaks than the time allowed by contract.
 
As part of ongoing research into the working habits of Britons, an independent online HR consultancy conducted research of 1,218 people in employment in  a bid to discover what ‘liberties’ are taken by the British workforce of today.
 
The research, conducted by www.Reabur.com, initially asked respondents ‘Do you think that you take liberties when at work?’ to which more than half, 54%, answered ‘yes.’ A further fifth, 21%, of those asked said ‘occasionally,’ meaning just a quarter, 25%, of the respondents didn’t believe they took any liberties when at work.
 
In order to establish what British employees classed as ‘taking liberties,’ the 54% of respondents who admitted to doing so when at work were asked to select all the appropriate examples from a list.
 
According to the results, one of the most common acts that the respondents deemed to be an example of them ‘taking liberties’ when at work was ‘over use of the company phone for personal calls,’ with more than half, 51%, of the respondents who admitted to taking liberties claiming they did so.
 
A further 49% of the respondents who admitted to taking liberties when at work claimed that they ‘frequently’ took ‘longer lunches’ then the time that was allocated to them in their contract and two fifths, 39%, admitted to taking ‘unauthorised’ breaks during the day.
 
Almost two thirds, 64%, of the respondents who admitted to taking liberties when at work said they did so by ‘frequently arriving late’ to work and a further 33%, said that they ‘frequently left early.’
 
Furthermore, more than a tenth, 11%, of the respondents who said that they took liberties at work admitted to ‘over claiming’ company expenses, whilst a further 6% said they had ‘borrowed petty cash and not returned it.’
 
Kirsty Burgess, co-managing director of Reabur.com, had the following to say about the findings,
 
“I would strongly advise those respondents who admitted to taking liberties at work to stop doing so. As much as an employee may feel they are getting away with being dishonest about expenses or taking extra breaks and leaving early, employers are usually always aware of what their staff are doing, even if the member of staff thinks otherwise. Once the manager or HR  have gathered enough relevant evidence of the liberties being taken, they may well be within their rights to terminate the employee’s contract.”
 
She continued,
 
“If employees are taking extra breaks or feeling the need to rest longer than their contractual lunch break due to work load or stress, it would be better to approach the management with the issues and see if they can be addressed, rather than taking liberties and being deceitful.”
 
http://www.Reabur.com