All UK workers want for Christmas: Not Mariah Carey

  • 57% of people don’t play Christmas songs in their workplace
  • Mariah Carey, Tom Jones & Wham! voted most annoying to listen to at work
  • 7 out of 10 say you shouldn’t decorate before December
  • Socks, underwear, and toiletries named the worst Secret Santa gifts you can give

 

Every festive film fan knows that the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. But, according to our latest research, that sentiment doesn’t always ring true when it comes to the workplace – especially if what you’re singing is Mariah Carey.

 

Mariah will make you lonely this Christmas

We surveyed over 1,000 jobseekers and asked them for their views on what annoys them about working over Christmas, and 15% voted Carey’s hit ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ the most annoying song they have to listen to.

Other irritating songs on the office playlist include ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ and ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham!.

‘Fairytale Of New York’ was voted the nation’s favourite festive hit – despite also appearing in the top five worst – and one in three UK workers admitted they don’t even like listening to Christmas music at all in the office.

 

Deck the halls

And it’s not just songs that talk to our inner Scrooge. Over 70% of us said that any decorations put up before December 1st would make us lose our holiday cheer.

And aside from time away from our families, 31% called office Scrooges the worst part of working over the Christmas break, followed by the Christmas rush (23%) and constantly having to listen to Christmas music (11%).

 

Not so secret Santa

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Although more than half of us don’t do Secret Santa, a staggering 81% enjoyed taking part – no matter how questionable the gifts are.

The presents most likely to make you wish you got gift vouchers instead include socks, underwear and toiletries. Re-gifting was also voted as one of the worst Secret Santa surprises.

Some people clearly step up to the challenge creatively, however. A few of the more unique gifts included everything from a mushroom growing kit and a single lemon, to a worm farm and wrapped-up wrapping paper.

Next year, maybe stick to a novelty mug…

 

Here’s a rundown of the worst (and best) parts of working over Christmas:

 

Top 5 worst Christmas songs to listen to at work

  1. All I Want For Christmas Is You
  2. Baby It’s Cold Outside
  3. Last Christmas
  4. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
  5. Fairytale Of New York

 

The 5 most annoying things about working over Christmas

  1. Office Scrooge
  2. The Christmas rush
  3. Other (e.g. time spent away from loved ones)
  4. Constantly listening to Christmas music
  5. Terrible Christmas jumpers

 

The best time to decorate

  1. December 1st (38%)
  2. A few weeks before Christmas (37%)
  3. End of November (14%)
  4. Never (8%)
  5. Straight after Halloween (3%)

 

 

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