Employees in the UK are spending nearly 14% of their week bored at work, according to research from international recruitment firm Robert Half.

The data from Robert Half showed that employees in London and the South East are the most bored, with managers anticipating that staff spend 6.4 hours a week uninterested in their jobs. This is closely followed by the South West and Wales who are estimated to spend 6 hours a week bored at work. Employees in Scotland are seen as less likely to be bored, with managers claiming that the workforce spends just shy of four uninterested hours at work.

For large companies with more than 500 employees, the amount of time that employees spend bored at work jumps to 7.1 hours (19%), the equivalent of nearly a full working day. In comparison, employees in medium-sized organisations with 250-499 employees are estimated to spend just over half that amount of time (3.8 hours a week) uninterested in their work. More than a third of managers, or 35%, confessed that work was not interesting enough, that staff don’t feel challenged (32%) and that there is a lack of diversity on offer within the role (30%). Meanwhile, 30% said that there are too many meetings that are poorly executed.

With the current skills shortage, managers need to focus efforts on keeping the role interesting to boost employee engagement and ultimately support higher retention” Phil Sheridan, Senior Managing Director at Robert Half UK, said. “To ensure employees perform to the best of their ability and remain interested in their jobs, employers need to introduce greater variety by giving workers the opportunity to develop new skills or take on additional responsibilities.”