NATION OF WORKAHOLICS: 11% WORKING WELSH FOLK EAT BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER AT THEIR DESKS EVERYDAY

Research released today by Ora Kitchen Towel reveals hardworking Welsh folk now consume an astonishing amount of meals in the office, with some 11% of workers (above UK average) admitting they eat all meals in the workplace every day. With around 10 million UK office workers, this trend to eat at work is creating a rise in damage to office equipment through spills and mishaps, generating dirty working conditions, as well as contributing to the demise of the traditional family meal.

The research found that:

• 600,000 UK workers (6%) eat breakfast lunch and dinner in the office everyday, compared to 11% in Wales
• 1 million UK office workers (10.2%) now eat breakfast and lunch in the office everyday.
• Welsh workers: 30% eat breakfast, 67% lunch and 24% dinner regularly in the office (either everyday or 2-6 times per week)
• UK worker average: 32% eat breakfast, 67% lunch and 18% dinner regularly in the office
• 15% of those from Wales admit to never cleaning their desks – a prime breeding ground for bacteria and viruses
• Welsh folk love tea. Predictably tea (23%) is the most common spill on office equipment followed by water (15%) and coffee (11%).  Coffee came out top as the UK average.
• 1 in 3 UK 16-24 year olds eat breakfast in the office everyday with an astonishing 25% admitting they also don’t make it home for dinner either, preferring to eat at work.
• Damage to equipment is running at a UK average of £93 per head for those admitting spills by eating in the office.

Released to coincide with the launch of the new Ora Handy Pack, the team questioned over 1,000 UK office workers about their eating habits.  Male workers were the messiest being more likely to eat at work and cause more damage through spillages.  Men were also far less likely to clean their desks than their female co-workers.

Oday Abbosh Founder & CEO of Ora comments, “These figures are truly astounding and it’s no surprise with so many meals eaten at work that so many spillages are occurring.   Finding time to eat and take a proper break in today’s working environment can be a real challenge.  It just shows the pressures the modern worker is under, especially younger ones who are putting in the hours and missing the opportunity to eat regularly at home.”

With most of us glued to our computers for a large part of the day, disasters are bound to occur. 40% of us admit causing a spillage over work equipment with coffee (17%) and tea (16%) being the most common spillages and almost twice as many men as women admitting spilling alcohol.   The addition of milk and sugar to hot drinks can cause huge problems to electrical equipment with sugar being highly corrosive and milk causing nasty odours unless cleaned up quickly.

When it comes to cleaning our desks there is definite room for improvement.  18% UK office workers have never cleaned their desks, leading to a potential rise in health problems as bacteria and viruses spread. A quarter of 45-54 year olds admit to never cleaning their work desks, the highest result for any age group.

The new Ora Handy Pack is ideal to be kept on office desks to tackle all messy moments and offers the quality of Ora close to hand in a conveniently sized pack. With no perforations it offers an easy one-hand grab so there is no tearing, no unravelling and no wastage.  Retailing for just £1 the Ora Handy Pack contains 50 sheets, equivalent to 1 traditional kitchen roll and is available through over 500 Tesco Express stores nationwide.