Christmas shopping is hectic. Fact. We imagine it’s fairly safe to assume that the vast majority of us would much rather shop online than deal with the crowds in town on a Saturday afternoon. But are you guilty of doing some sneaky online Christmas shopping in the office?

According to a new survey, most of us happily conduct the majority of our Christmas spending from our desks. Believe it or not, the average employee spends one hour a day buying and researching gifts for family and friends on the sly while they’re supposed to be working.

The survey, which was conducted by the Daisy Group, revealed that two thirds of the employees who were questioned, said that doing a bit of Christmas shopping at work was a nice little break from the daily grind. And 39 per cent said they were certain that their boss was doing the exact same thing!

A third of workers stated that the reason they did some sneaky shopping in work was down to the fact that their long working hours meant that they didn’t have a chance to get to the shops during the week.

Three in 10 stated that logging on at work was the quickest, and most effective, way to get things done.

Work? Pah! We'd rather scope out some Christmas shopping...

“Shopping online is more customer-friendly than ever before and with much faster broadband speeds and great online deals, it simply makes it a more efficient option for many,” said Kate O’Brien, the marketing director for the Daisy Group.

“It’s a real sign of the times that a third of workers are now simply too busy to get to the high street and shows that shoppers really do need the convenience and speed that online shopping offers them,” she added.

Alright, it’s confession time – do you regularly do a bit of sneaky shopping in work?