The majority of UK workers are today suffering from ‘weekend jet lag’ - a new term coined to explain why workers feel tired (53%), sluggish (38%), unproductive (23%) and cranky (30%) on Monday mornings.

The poll of over 1,000 office workers by secretarial and office support recruitment consultancy, Office Angels, discovered over two thirds (68%) of workers enjoy up to an extra five hours sleep over the weekend. The re-adjustment to early morning wake-up calls on a Monday is therefore the equivalent to flying back from New York on the red-eye – and is leaving workers feeling just as jet lagged.

Just 51% of UK workers get the recommended eight hours sleep on a Sunday night, while an exhausted one in 20 (5%) get only four hours shut-eye or less.

With nearly half (46%) of full time workers admitting that Monday is their least productive day, the research also reveals that the average sleepy worker doesn’t get going on work until at least 9.20am on a Monday, costing Britain’s businesses £120m in lost wages each week. Instead they ease themselves in to the working week by gossiping (36%), personal admin such as paying bills and banking (17%), and even day dreaming (10%).

David Clubb, managing director of Office Angels, says: “If you tend to suffer from ‘weekend jet leg’ try and spend your Monday mornings on less taxing tasks, rather than wasting time altogether. Why not use the time to write your action list for the day or week, clear some emails or go through any clutter on your desk and file it?”