Naughty websites, premium rate calls and steamy office clinches

A shock survey of UK office workers, by leading IT and office skills provider Pitman Training has revealed that throughout the UK, people are spending their lunch hours doing anything but taking time out for lunch.

The poll which asked ëHow do you spend your lunch hour?í revealed that: q 80% of office workers had used their precious hour to surf the internet for personal gains such as booking holidays, and using chat rooms. Of this 80%, 60% admit they visit rude websites on a regular basis. q 30% of those questioned say theyíve used the office phone to ring premium rate chat lines, horoscope lines or practical joke lines. q 11% regularly go shopping for groceries, clothes, presents, or just window shopping q 5% revealed theyíve even used their 60 minutes for a steamy sex session with a colleague in the photocopier room or office toilets.

Astoundingly, nearly 90% of respondents didnít think there was a problem in using their lunch hours to do as they pleased and said that company policies were never communicated properly. Only 10% of those questioned said theyíd ever thought of doing something constructive with their lunch hour such as joining a club linked in with a hobby or interest, visiting the gym or learning new skills to enhance their career.

Michael Graham, managing director, Pitman Training said: ìWith the increasing view in the workplace that ëlunch is for losersí, workers donít want to be seen to be nipping out for leisurely lunches or shopping sprees when their colleagues have their heads down and nibble on a home made packed lunch. Instead people are sitting at their desks, utterly bored, pretending to work, which inevitably leads to partaking in activities that no reasonable company policy would ever tolerate.î

He added: ìSixty minutes is a long time when you have time to kill. Weíd encourage UK workers to consider spending that hour training for some new skills. Because all Pitman Training courses offer flexible learning options, all our students have the opportunity to study as and when they have the time and the inclination. So telling your colleagues youíre heading out over lunch to attend a training course is a much better option than admitting youíre heading off for a boozy lunch. A keyboard skills course can easily be done during your lunch hour, and by improving your typing speed by just five words a minute can give you so much more time to do other things. In fact going from 35-40 words per minute can save you 113 hours a year. Itíll impress your boss too, and you might even manage to persuade your company to pay for your course!î