UK productivity is set to plummet after next week’s bank holiday, according to a survey.
Half of the employees questioned by pollsters YouGov for Croner HR consultancy said a lack of public holidays between September and December made them unproductive at work.
About 40% of the 2,119 respondents said an extra bank holiday would make them more refreshed. But there are no more UK bank holidays until Christmas Day and 84 working days to go.
Richard Smith, employment services director at Croner, said: “As a nation we moan about being overworked and not having as many bank holidays as our European neighbours. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the respondents to our survey said that a long period of time with no public holiday has a negative impact on their productivity.”
But the frequency of bank holidays was not the main issue, Smith said.
“Feeling unproductive is more likely to be due to becoming weary of long-term nine to five shifts rather than a lack of odd days off. While a single day’s public holiday is nice to have, it isn’t long enough to counteract the cumulative effect of hard work,” he said.
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Four in 10 (39%) respondents said that a bank holiday had no positive impact on their job performance and a third (34%) said they preferred flexible working all year round.
