US office workers most inventive at coining excuses for bunking

05 Jul 2012

Workplace Survey Reveals Surprises About Traditional Office Life, Working from Home

More creative excuses for not showing up at the office: it's Elvis' birthday; gas is too expensive; dog sprayed by skunk; need to spy on my gardener; stumbled on the love of my life.

India, July 5, 2012: It's no secret that many of us find parts of office life annoying, stressful and even counter-productive. A new Wakefield Research Study commissioned by Citrix details some of our top frustrations with modern work life, including, working with a ''know-it-all,'' attending company events we'd rather miss and a boss that takes credit for our work.

The srudy also highlights the creative measures people are taking to avoid going in to the office and what they're willing to sacrifice for the flexibility to work from home just one day a week.

The survey of more than 1,000 American office workers was conducted in June 2012 by Wakefield Research. It reveals the following trends and reasons that workers feel they need a break from the office and how they would conduct business from home or on vacation.

Workplace Bonding Bombs: Almost three-quarters of office workers have at least one company event they secretly dislike; 34 percent of office workers secretly dislike participating in costume contests followed by 31 per cent who say they dislike team-building activities. The most disliked office event for male co-workers is office "baby showers" or congratulations parties (42 per cent) while female workers hate staff photos (31 per cent).