UK Workers Say Personal Tasks During Work Hours Boost Productivity, Study Finds

Most UK employees handle personal tasks during working hours, and the majority believe those short breaks improve their productivity, according to a study by careers site LiveCareer reported by TechRadar Pro.

The research, as described by TechRadar, found that 76% of UK employees deal with personal tasks during working hours at least a few times a week, while 48% do so on every working day. Only 5% said they never handle personal tasks at work.

The most common distractions were household chores, cited by 54% of respondents, and personal errands, cited by 51%. Those categories are closely associated with hybrid and remote working arrangements, where home and work environments overlap.

On the question of impact, 86% of respondents said short personal breaks during working hours improve overall productivity. A further 11% saw no meaningful effect, leaving 3% who believed the breaks could be harmful.

Time spent on personal tasks varied. Nearly three in five respondents — 57% — reported spending between 30 and 60 minutes a day on them, while about one in five, or 19%, reported spending between one and two hours.

The survey also pointed to a gap between the UK and mainland Europe. Around 48% of British workers said they take personal breaks daily, compared with about 27% of European employees. European respondents also reported spending less time on breaks when they took them.

What is confirmed

These figures come from a single LiveCareer study, and the details available are limited to what TechRadar reported. The survey's sample size, methodology, and fieldwork dates are not included in the material reviewed here, so the numbers should be treated as the study's findings rather than independently verified labour statistics.

TechRadar also noted a limitation in the report itself: it does not compare productivity levels between countries, so it cannot establish whether personal breaks have a positive or negative effect on actual work output. The finding that workers believe breaks help is a measure of perception, not a measured productivity gain.

Why it matters

If the pattern holds, it challenges a traditional assumption that time spent on non-work tasks during the day is simply lost time. The report's conclusion, quoted by TechRadar, frames occasional personal breaks as part of a more sustainable way to manage work and life across the day rather than as time employees feel they have lost.

For employers, that framing may be more useful than the headline percentage. Hybrid and remote arrangements make it harder to separate the working day from home life, and the survey suggests many employees no longer draw a hard line between the two. Whether that translates into better work remains an open question, because the study did not measure output.

Practical takeaway

The finding that 86% of respondents see a productivity benefit does not prove a productivity benefit. It shows that employees largely view short breaks as compatible with getting work done. Organisations weighing flexible-work policies may want to look at their own output measures rather than rely on self-reported sentiment from a single survey.

Attribution: This article is based on reporting by TechRadar Pro on a LiveCareer study. All figures and the quoted conclusion come from that reporting.