THE SIX DAY WEEK<br>

We may not be in the office on the weekend, but our thoughts are suggests new research
UK employees actually work the equivalent of six days a week – with new research revealing we spend 7 hours* of our precious weekend preparing for the working week ahead, without so much as reading an email, taking a call or proactively working.
With the clocks having sprung forward and this last weekend reduced to 47 hours many office workers have felt robbed of a precious weekend hour, but what they donít realise is theyíre likely to only ever get 41 hours a weekend.
The research from Office Angels, the UK's leading secretarial and recruitment consultancy, shows that, unsurprisingly, almost nine out of ten (87%) office workers wish for their weekend to be longer, but theyíre actually making them shorter by partaking in weekend work-prep. One of the top activities is the very dull 'ironing' - with well groomed employees admitting they spend an average 1hr 45mins washing and ironing clothes for work.
Other big contributors to weekend work preparation include:
ï 1hr 16mins spent shopping for and preparing packed lunches (especially now weíre all feeling the pinch)
ï 31 mins hitting the shops for work clothes
ï 1hr 19mins on the inevitable Saturday night work chat with your friends – love it or hate it, we all bore and get bored by each otherís careers but it doesnít stop us talking about them!
However, the biggest hour stealer of all is still the Sunday Blues. Almost half the UK PLC (43%) admit to thinking about going back to work as soon as they wake up on Sunday morning, and we lose on average 1hr 50mins every Sunday bemoaning the fact we've got to go back to work, with one in eight (12%) worrying about work for 5 hours or more.
As the clocks have gone forward this weekend, and weíve all lost an hour, David Clubb, Managing Director of Office Angels offers some advice on how to prevent work orientated tasks eating into your well-earned downtime:
While it's a bit of fun to see the time we spend making lunches or ironing clothes, these chores are obviously an inevitable part of free time for most of us. However when it comes to worrying on a Sunday, which is more of a problem, there are steps you can take to reduce this fear.î
One in five office workers (20%) resent weekend work prep and wish they could do more to combat their work worries allowing them more ëme timeí. David Clubb provides his top tips:

ï Leave your work in a good place on Friday, so youíre not worried about it at the weekend. Finish off a document, or if there isnít time write notes in the margin or leave a Post-it on your PC with key reminders for Monday morning
ï Prepare an action list for the Monday before the end of the working week – so you donít mentally write one on the Sunday
ï Remind yourself that on a week day your spare time starts at 6pm and you have a whole evening ahead of you, so donít panic on a Sunday that itís already 6pm – still plenty of time to relax and unwind
ï If you do need to worry on a Sunday, write it down – a problem in black and white usually seems easier to tackle
However, itís not all bad news. Interestingly a quarter (26%) actually cite the weekend work-prep as a positive thing – for one in ten (11%) it allows them time to 'mulch': so while not actively working, the break allows them to get a bit of distance to think ideas or problems through, and one in seven (15%) like to be organised and enjoy preparing for the working week ahead at the weekend.

The Tickbox survey was conducted among 1,003 UK office workers in March 2009 by Office Angels
Spokespeople available for interview:
Office Angels: David Clubb, Managing Director, Office Angels