Christmas at the office

10:12am Tuesday 18th December 2007

WITH the festive season upon us, new research has revealed that South-West businesspeople are almost twice as likely to miss Christmas Day due to their hectic work life, compared to their counterparts elsewhere in England.

Clydesdale Bank's new study into work/life balance questioned 500 businesses up and down the country about how they balance their work life with their home life.

When asked what important family events had been affected due to work commitments, 15% of those in the South-West admitted to having missed Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, compared to the UK average of just over one in ten (11%).

Looking at the picture across the UK, businesspeople in the East Midlands rank as the worst offenders, with nearly a quarter (23%) having missed Christmas Day.

At the other end of the scale, businesspeople in Yorkshire are far more likely to stick to the traditional festive family holidays with only 3% having missed either Christmas Day or New Year's Eve.

Other regions where workers rarely miss the Christmas holidays include the South East (4%), and Wales (9%).

"If there was one day in the year that you'd expect most people to put work to one side, it would surely be Christmas Day, said Richard Wallace, regional director of Clydesdale Bank's Financial Solutions Centres.

"It is acknowledged that the UK has a culture of working longer hours than virtually all other European countries, but nonetheless it's astounding that so many business people still appear to miss what is traditionally one of the most important family holidays of the year."