‘Festive fizzleout’ costs economy 8 billion pounds, says study

‘Festive fizzleout’ costs economy 8 billion pounds, says study

	Published : Tue, 13 Dec 2005 11:20 By : James Rowe Print this Story

LONDON: The run-up to Christmas will cost the British economy 8 billion pounds, according to new research study. Avenance, a catering company, which carried out the study, said nearly half of the country's workforce will be enjoying the Christmas festivities from 18th December with five full working days to go and these workers will spend more of their working hours worried about Christmas than work, impacting on business productivity.

More than two thirds of workers queried said they tend to be less productive throughout December compared with other months. Almost half of them said they do 10 per cent to 20 per cent less work, while three in 10 admitted they produced between 20 per cent and 30 per cent less work.

The company said exhaustion, lack of motivation and hangovers contributed to this attitude.

It also found that six out of 10 employees claimed they were less productive because they overindulged and ate and drank the wrong things; nine out of 10 would attend at least four Christmas lunches; nearly a third said they would drink more than one bottle of wine with each work-related Christmas lunch; and one in 10 blamed the consequent hangovers for their reduced output, with women being nearly twice as likely to be affected by hangovers in December than at any other time of the year compared with men.

One in 10 employees said they fell ill over Christmas break as a result of the over-indulgence.

Avenance's chief executive Michael Audis said companies can support their employees through this busy and stressful period at both personal and professional levels. Such a support is critical to ensure that employees manage to stay well over the festive period and enjoy the holiday with their friends and family, as well as come back to work feeling recharged and refreshed.

One disturbing finding of the survey is that women were hit harder than men by the festive fizzleout, with nearly twice as many women more concerned by Christmas than work compared with men.