Jobseeking Brits are costing UK businesses more than £5bn in lost wages each year, according to research by video recruitment site jobs2view.com.

The survey found that more than half of workers admit to searching for other jobs when they should be working, spending on average half an hour each week scouring job adverts, the equivalent of more than three working days of each year spent looking for other jobs.

It found that 48% use their work's internet while a third of the 2,000 workers polled have used an office telephone to enquire about a job. A cheeky 21% have even filled out a job application form while sat at their desk.

More than a third say boredom drives their work-time job hunting but 37% say their job annoys them so much they just start looking there and then out of anger.

An understanding 50% of bosses would be more worried about finding out why their employees are so desperate to find a new role, while one in five workers don't think their boss would care if they were looking for something else.

The research found that 28% have lied to their boss about getting time off work for a job interview, more than one in ten pull a sickie, while a sneaky 16% say they have to leave early for a doctors or dentist appointment. Only 17% are honest and tell their boss the real reason for needing the time off, booking a day's holiday to cover the interview.