British workers waste a quarter of their day making tea, gossiping and planning holidays, according to a study by Lexmark.

It found the average employee spends 22% of the working day chatting, surfing the internet or reading the newspaper, with the biggest timewaster making a cup of tea.

It also found that more than one in 10 waste office time planning their next holiday, and an equal number spend time looking for a new job.
It found that the UK has the lowest productivity rating in Europe at 79%, while Germany has the highest at 89%.

It found that 8% of British workers believe they are at their most productive in the evening, 3% said they are at their best just after waking up.