Britain Loses 125 Million Working Days a Year to Online Shopping

More than ten million employees in the UK shop online whilst they should be working, according to price comparison website Give as You Live.

The site, which commissioned Atomik Research to survey 2,012 people, found that a third of employees have admitted to shopping online whilst they should be working.

The Office for National Statistics said that the working population in the UK is 30.64 million so that means there could be 10.21 million Brits who "shop on the boss's dollar".

"It's often said that there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done, something our figures confirm," said Steff Lewis, head of communications at Give as You Live.

"Working nine to five is how most people make a living, but it also means we have less time to do important 'life admin' like shopping. Now we can see how Brits are coping – by shopping on the boss' dollar. "

The research also revealed that of those employees who admitted to shopping at work, an average of 24 minutes is lost every working day to browsing online shopping sites – costing businesses 96 hours every year in lost time.

Workers in Leicester spend the most time shopping online at work (45 minutes and 44 seconds), followed closely by staff in Glasgow (43 minutes and 11 seconds).

People in Nottingham spend the least just 14 minutes and 43 seconds shopping online, the lowest of any UK city.

Those in London spend 23 minutes and 51 seconds online shopping at work.

On average, Brits spend £77.49 ($130.49, €97.55) per person shopping online whilst working a 9am – 5pm shift, according to transaction data from Give as You Live.

In addition, the site said 11am on a Monday morning is the most popular period for a work time purchase.

Tesco topped the charts as the most popular retailer to shop through at work, with M&S and TheTrainline coming second and third.