Guilty secrets at work

Women are being a little devious in the workplace - but they're paying the price: their underhand tactics are leaving them ridden with guilt.

New research reveals career-women admit their biggest sin is lying to the boss, but pulling 'sickies', spreading office gossip and taking credit for things they didn't do all come close.

The findings may shock some bosses, since it is men who are usually portrayed as ruthless at work. But their female colleagues have turned out to be no angels.

A whopping one in five confessed to taking the credit for something they didn't do, while one in 20 admitted to blaming a colleague for a mistake they'd made themselves.

But don't expect those mistakes to stay secret - more than a quarter of women admit to spreading juicy office gossip - but with offices being the source of much mischief from secret flings to drunken nights out, this is hardly surprising.

While most women are immersed in the ladette culture of work-hard play-hard, some are burning the candle at both ends and more than a quarter admit to regularly taking hangover 'sickies' when they’ve had a glass of wine too many the previous night

Another one in four will lie about why they're late when the fact is they've simply overslept. Young women are the worse offenders, with well over half admitting to being poor timekeepers, partly because they feel under pressure to look good in the workplace - a quarter confessed they won't got to work unless their hair looks perfect.

Psychotherapist Christine Webber — author of 'Get the Happiness Habit' explains why it's important we try to ditch the guilt: "Women will resort to anything, wise or unwise, to get the results they desire. Unfortunately, most unwise behaviour leads to guilt. But guilt is an unhealthy emotion."

So for a clear conscience, it seems girls should get up earlier, stop gossiping and stop stealing the credit from their colleagues. But then the day would just be so long.