Lunch hour is now 27 minutes long

More workers are taking less holiday and shorter lunch breaks than ever before.

And added pressure at the workplace is causing stress among workers who are costing employers more than £13billion a year due to time off sick.

A study by the Research Services of Great Britain reported that worried workers are spending less time on eating as the economic slowdown begins to take effect and that lunchtime spending has dropped for the first time in 12 years.

The average lunch break is now thought to last 27 minutes as staff stay at their desks to look keen in front of bosses. And only one in 100 drink alcohol in their lunchbreak.

Pressure is also said to be a factor for workers not taking all of their allocated holiday.

Fewer than half of employers take all their holidays, due to stress and fear that time off will harm their career.

The British workforce does not not fare favourably with their European counterparts, who are more productive because they enjoy longer holidays and shorter working weeks.

Stress is causing the high sickness rate which last year saw employees take an average of 10 days off. And sickness is costing businesses £13 billion a year, around £522 per worker, says a survey by the Chartered Institute of Personal Development (CIPD).

It said the main reason for employees taking time off sick was stress and pressure in the workplace.

Diane Sinclair, policy advisor at the CIPD, said: "Both the reasons for work-related stress and its symptoms need to be tackled."