Workers who make tea at the office gain an extra eight days of paid 'holiday' each year

The research, conducted by online retailer Haypp, has looked into who are the biggest time wasters in the office, revealing which culprits gain the most ‘unofficial’ holidays.

TikTok scrollers have been revealed as the biggest culprits for gaining the most ‘unofficial’ holiday at work. On average, a worker spends 33 minutes scrolling through TikTok during the workday. When you add these minutes up across the week, it equates to 385 minutes. Then looking across the year, minus the average five weeks holiday, these social addicts spend a huge 129 hours a year scrolling, which shockingly equates to just over three weeks of additional ‘unofficial’ holiday a year.

And, in true British fashion, the second biggest time wasters were the tea makers, who gain an additional eight days of holiday each year.

Another culprit for time wasting at work was smokers. Haypp found that over 52% of employees who smoke in the UK are still regularly getting up from their desks to enjoy a cigarette, or vape. On average, UK smokers will spend between five and ten minutes a day leaving work to smoke. Once again, when all of this time is added up, it equates to 39.1 hours which is an extra week's holiday every year - almost six days worth!

Other non-work related tasks that take up significant amounts of time included talking about the weather which equated to five days a year, and turning up late boosted employees' holiday allowance by three days a year, based on an employee being just five minutes late.

The biggest time wasters at work:

1. TikTok scrollers - 3 weeks 3 days

2. Tea makers - 8 days

3. Smokers - 6 days

4. Talking about the weather - 5 days

5. Latecomers - 3 days

Markus Lindblad from Haypp, said: “We conducted this research to find out who the biggest time wasters were in the workplace, and it's been shocking to see how much additional holiday time some people get. It’s also been interesting to see that a large proportion of UK smokers are still gaining some extra time away from work to enjoy a cigarette, with some wasting 20 minutes or more every day. A great smoke free alternative that can be enjoyed from the comfort of people’s desk or place of work is a nicotine pouch. Nicotine pouches are discreet, can be used at any time and are also better for the environment too. And while it would save employers one week per year of working hours, a switch to the less harmful pouches could give a smoker many more years of life.”