Hungover staff will cost employers a huge £740 million in lost productivity this year, with seven out of 10 expecting to party for at least two nights over the next 10 days.
According to a survey among 2,000 workers conducted by hotel chain, Travelodge, three times more UK companies (75%) plan to host a traditional office party than in 2011 (23%) and nearly twice as many as in 2010 (38%).
Shakila Ahmed, a spokeswoman for Travelodge, said: “It is good to see that more companies are rewarding their workforce with an end of year celebration. This is a positive sign that we are slowly coming out of the recession.”
But a huge 53% of employees said that they were preparing to party hard to reward themselves for surviving one of the toughest years of their working career. Some 36% said that they would be getting drunk because they deserved it, for instance.
Over a third of those questioned also indicated that they generally got the least amount of sleep during December due to excessive partying, working late and preparing for Christmas.
On average, they said that they generally survived on just five hours sleep per night during the two week run-up to the big day, which is three hours less than the recommended sleep quota.
Just under half also indicated that they would be splashing out on average £73.80 on new clothes, accessories, hair dos and beauty treatments such as manicures and fake tans in order to impress fellow colleagues.
But a further 36% of respondents believed that Christmas work celebrations were important as they helped co-workers to bond and boosted team morale, although a further quarter said that they avoided such dos like the plague as they didn’t enjoy socialising with colleagues.
