Monday morning blues

Work-shy Brits are costing businesses 361 billion a year in wages because it takes them so long to get into the swing of things on a Monday morning, according to a new poll.

More than 70 per cent of people find it hard to get going on a Monday morning, with the average worker not actually getting round to doing any work until at least 10am.

One in ten go through the whole morning before actually doing any work and seven per cent admit they don't get into the mood at all on a Monday.

Two thirds also do easy administrative jobs during a Monday morning so they can ease themselves in gently, the poll of 2,000 employees by video recruitment website www.jobs2view.com revealed.

But that's as long as workers actually turn up as a cheeky 43 per cent of Brits have phoned in sick on a Monday to get an extra day off after the weekend.

Almost a third of employees have also been intentionally late, but blame the traffic or public transport in a desperate attempt to get a few more hours in bed.

Some soon regret their decision though as seven per cent have been caught lying about being sick.

Despite this, a lucky 72 per cent said their boss didn't do anything about it and 17 per cent only had a few words of warning.

Jon Glas, managing director of www.jobs2view.com said: Everybody hates that Monday morning feel but it's worrying to think that simply taking your time to get into the swing of things is costing businesses so much.

Setting your alarm clock half an hour earlier would allow you enough time to get into work, have that important cup of tea and some breakfast, so you are ready and awake for 9am.

The poll also revealed that three quarters of Brits have been late to work before, with more than half of those saying it is more likely to be on a Monday than any other day of the week.

Traffic is the main cause of the lateness followed by oversleeping and simply not wanting to get out of bed.