December Is The Best And Worst Month For Businesses

Dec. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- The UK’s leading discount code and voucher site, www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, carried out an anonymous survey with workers in a variety of different industries and found that a huge majority were likely to skive off work in order to get all their shopping done this Christmas.

The survey found that 67% of 1,278 workers asked had in fact lied to a boss in order to do some Christmas shopping at their company’s expense. 1 in 10 of those had lied said that they had used the dentist as an excuse for arriving late in the morning when they’d actually been shopping for gifts. 27% had used a doctor’s appointment, and 1 in 3 had blamed childcare as the reason for their absence.

Of the 2 in 3 of people that have lied, 72% said that they did so at a time when their employer actually needed them, often leaving them in the lurch. Whilst the rest said that even though lied they did so at a time that would have only a small impact on the company as a whole.

Of the total people surveyed there was an increase in the number of people saying they would lie if needs be, with 93% saying they would do so if it was the only time they could get their shopping done. However, the vast majority said that they would do it at a time when business wasn’t too busy.

The survey found that bosses are actually more likely to take time out of work to get presents because they can get away with it. MyVoucherCodes.co.uk put the question 659 bosses and 72% said they would be shopping on and offline in the lead up to Christmas. Of those that would shop in office hours, over half said they would be annoyed if they found an employee doing so.

Speaking of the findings, Mark Pearson Managing Director of MyVcoucherCodes.co.uk had this to say;

“As a managing director myself I find it quite alarming that so many people are “skiving off” to finish off their shopping. Especially as this is one of the busiest times of the year for a lot of businesses.”

He continued;

“I think if something is very urgent and there is only one chance to get it, your best bet is to just speak to your boss and explain why you need the time off as they’ll probably understand. I do however, think that it’s very hypocritical for bosses to shop in office hours and not the employees.”


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For more information contact Gabrielle Lofthouse, gabrielle@10yetis.co.uk, 01452 348211

EDITORS NOTES
Mark Pearson, MD of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29 his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

MyVoucherCodes is the UK’s most popular discount site.

The site now regularly achieves 9m unique visitors per month

MyVoucherCodes is now over two years old and has featured on the likes of BBC Working Lunch, BBC Breakfast, ITV and every major national UK newspaper.