Unproductive workers busy themselves shopping around

Unproductive and miserable on your first day back in the office? You’re not the only one. Research commissioned by comparethemarket.com has found that UK workers are not all raring to go in the New Year, with 44% saying that they will not be productive and 47% admitting that they are “still on holiday mode” on their first day back to work.

For many people, their first day back at work will be today - Monday 5th January. However, instead of working, it appears that around half of the UK adults will be spending the day online. The most popular activity today for unproductive workers will be planning their next holiday (34%), closely followed by surfing websites (33%), online shopping (31%) and using social media (30%). As the figures suggest, most indulge in more than one non-work related activity.

This “holiday mode” attitude can perhaps be best understood as an attempt to offset the infamous “January Blues”, as people try to make themselves feel better by planning another holiday as the realities of work bite. comparethemarket.com’s study certainly suggests this is the case, as over a quarter of respondents (27%) said they will feel “gloomy” and a further 23% said that they would be “exhausted”. 

Today is also likely to be the busiest day for online enquiries on comparethemarket.com, with the site set to experience 50% more quotes, on this one day, than the average day in the previous month. This suggests that not only will people be surfing the net for holiday inspiration and celebrity gossip, but will also be trying to get their finances in order, giving rise to the “Quote Monday” phenomenon.

Simon McCulloch, Director at comparethemarket.com, said: “It’s difficult not to feel a bit jaded after the Christmas holiday, and judging from these figures, January Blues clearly kick in today. The issue of a lack of productivity and “holiday mode” could also have an impact on the economy today – but it is entirely understandable that people want to feel better by planning their next big blow out trip or party. However, our study found that 46% of UK adults feel poorer after Christmas – perhaps that’s why they go onto our site to shop around, in order to fulfil their New Year’s resolution to save on the household finances. We’ve had Black Friday, Cyber Monday and now we have Quote Monday!”