Lady sitting at a desk in her office

Desk Breaks & Workplace Wellbeing Statistics - UK 2024

Workplace health professionals recommend that workers take hourly breaks; whether this be a short walk or simply standing up to stretch. The ASICS Global State of Mind study, conducted in 2024, found that two hours of uninterrupted desk time led to a noticeable decline in one’s mental health, with four hours of uninterrupted desk time leading to an 18% rise in stress levels.  

With this in mind, we set out to discover the frequency of desk breaks the average UK worker takes, looking at whether this is in line with what healthcare professionals recommend. 

To find out, in August 2024, we surveyed a demographically representative sample of 2,015 UK adults, using the market research company, Censuswide, asking ‘how long do you sit at your desk without taking a break?’ 

KEY FINDINGS

      Desk Break Frequency

  • 41.5% of UK adults with desk jobs take at least one break per hour.
  • 25-34 year olds are the least likely age group to take hourly breaks, with only 31.6% doing so.
  • Hybrid workers are the least likely to take hourly breaks (38.8%) compared to 41.4% of office-based workers and 44.9% of fully remote workers.
  • Cardiff has the highest rate of hourly breaks, with 68.4% of workers taking at least one break per hour.
  • Travel agents are the most likely profession to take breaks, with 66.7% taking at least one break per hour.

      Neck, Shoulder, or Back Pain Frequency

  • 21.3% of UK adults feel neck, back, or shoulder pain every day.
  • 45-54 year olds are the most affected age group, with 26.3% experiencing pain daily.
  • Remote workers experience daily pain most frequently (21.3%), compared to 18.2% of in-office workers and 13.02% of hybrid workers.
  • Glasgow has the highest rate of daily pain, with 31.7% of residents affected.
  • Conversely, London has the lowest rate of daily pain, with only 14.9% affected.

 

How often do people with desk jobs take breaks?

Whilst respondents to our survey, in the interest of being representative of the wider UK workforce, included professionals across a wide array of professions, for the purposes of this study, we specifically homed in on those with desk jobs and thus the data below is only representative of those who fit the ‘work from a desk’ criteria.

We asked this group about the frequency of breaks they take over the course of the working day.

Below are their responses:

How many UK desk workers take at least one break per hour, as recommended?

  • Less than half (41.5%) of people with desk jobs in the UK take the recommended number of breaks (at least once an hour).
  • 13% of desk workers take a minimum of 2 breaks per hour, while 28% take one hourly.
  • Nearly a third of desk workers go 3 hours or more without taking a break (30%).
  • 16% go at least 4 hours without taking some time away from their desk.
  • 1 in 15 go 5 hours or more without a break (6.42%).
  • And 1 in 36 don't take a break at all during their working day (2.73%).

Which age group is the most likely to take hourly breaks from their desk?

It’s also worth noting the role that age plays in the likelihood of one taking regular breaks.

  • Those aged 55 and over are the age group most likely, amongst UK workers with desk jobs, to take at least one break per hour.
  • 49.4% of the 55+ year old desk job workers say they take at least one break per hour.
  • After 55+ year olds, the age group most likely to take hourly breaks are 45-54 year olds (47.9%) followed by 16-24 year olds (40.6%).
  • 25-34 year olds are the age group least likely to take hourly breaks (31.6%).

Percentage of age groups taking hourly breaks

 

Does where one works from (i.e., home, at the office etc.) affect the likelihood of taking hourly breaks from their desk?

With a lot of discussion centred around the advent of flexible working, it’s interesting to explore which working arrangement most encourages regular breaks.

  • Of everyone surveyed, hybrid workers are the least likely to take hourly breaks.
  • 38.78% of hybrid workers report taking hourly breaks from their desk.
  • This is compared to 41.43% of those who go to the office 5 days a week, as well as 44.93% of those who work fully remotely.

 

Percentage of workers taking breaks by work arrangement

 

Work Set Up

  • Hybrid: 38.8%
  • 5 Days a Week in the Office: 41.4%
  • Remote: 44.9%

As part of our survey, we also asked each participant – including the respondents who, at the time the survey was conducted, didn’t have a desk job - how often they experience back, neck or shoulder pain.

Whilst a clear correlation is difficult to establish between how often one takes a break from their desk and how often one feels neck, shoulder or back pain – a representative survey like this helps us to understand the scale of the problem, and allows us to identify the age groups, genders and working styles that deal the most with this sort of pain.

Which UK city’s workers are the most likely to take hourly breaks from their desks?

The UK’s cities are diverse in culture, personality and industrial heritage, but with more businesses spreading their operations across the UK, it’s worth considering if the city one is situated in affects the frequency of breaks taken.

  • Cardiff is the city where workers are most likely to take hourly breaks from their desks, with 68.4% of the respondents with desk jobs from Cardiff reporting taking at least one break per hour over the working day.
  • Belfast: 51.7%
  • Glasgow: 48.8%
  • Edinburgh: 48.0%
  • Southampton has the highest percentage of workers who take hourly breaks from their desk among English cities, at 47.4%.
  • Liverpool has the lowest percentage, with only 30.8% of respondents from Liverpool saying they take hourly breaks.

 

Graph

CLICK TO VIEW FULL DATA SET TABLE
City % of Respondents Taking Hourly Breaks
Cardiff 68.4%
Belfast 51.7%
Glasgow 48.8%
Edinburgh 48.0%
Southampton 47.4%
Plymouth 45.5%
Nottingham 44.8%
Sheffield 42.9%
Manchester 41.9%
Norwich 40.8%
London 40.5%
Birmingham 38.6%
Brighton 37.5%
Bristol 35.3%
Leeds 33.8%
Newcastle 31.7%
Liverpool 30.8%

 

Hourly desk breaks by profession

Percentage of respondents by profession taking hourly breaks

CLICK TO VIEW FULL DATA SET TABLE
Profession % of Respondents Taking Hourly Breaks
Travel Agent 66.7%
Charity Worker 63.6%
Recruiter 57.1%
Engineer 55.3%
Chef 52.9%
Shop Assistant 50.8%
Firefighter 50%
Nurse 47.2%
Sales Rep 42.9%
Administrator 42.7%
IT Technician/Software 42.6%
Marketer 41.7%
Estate/Letting Agent 40%
Plumber 40%
Social Worker 39.4%
Teacher 39.1%
Bank Worker 38.1%
Electrician 37.5%
Lawyer 37.5%
Customer Service/Call 34.04%
Sport/Leisure Worker 33.3%
Driver 31.3%
Accountant 29.7%
Builder 26.9%
Doctor 25%
Police Officer 25%
Advertising Media 16%

Breaking down the data by profession allows us to hypothesise about whether there’s a relationship between the sector and the number of breaks taken over the course of the day.

  • People representing a wide range of professions were surveyed, with travel agents standing out as the group most likely to take at least one break per hour. 
  • 66.7% of travel agents report taking at least one break from their desk per hour.  
  • Charity workers are the 2nd most likely group to take hourly desk breaks, with 63.6% of charity workers taking at least one break per hour. 
  • The 3rd most likely group are recruiters, with 57.1% of recruiters taking at least one break per hour.
  • On the lower end of the spectrum are doctors, police officers and people working in advertising/media. 

On the lower end of the spectrum are doctors, police officers, and people working in advertising/media.

  • 25% of doctors take hourly desk breaks. 
  • 25% of police officers take hourly desk breaks.  
  • 16% of advertisers take hourly desk breaks.  

The only group surveyed with respondents who go for more than 5 hours before taking a break from their desk are nurses and bank workers. 

  • 2.4% of bank workers go more than 5 hours without taking a break from their desk.  
  • 2.8% of nurses go more than 5 hours without taking a break from their desk.

How many UK adults experience daily neck, back or shoulder pain?

  • 21.3% of UK adults report feeling neck, back or shoulder pain every day.
  • Women are more likely than men to feel pain on a daily basis, with 25.96% of women experiencing pain every day compared to 16.4% of men.
  • Furthermore, 13.2% of men report never experiencing neck or shoulder pain, compared to the 9.6% of women that can say the same.

Graph

CLICK TO VIEW DAILY PAIN STATISTICS BY GENDER
Gender % Experiencing Pain Daily
Women 26%
Men 16.4%

 

Which age group is most likely to experience daily neck, back or shoulder pain?

With more years of wear and tear under their belt, it’s unsurprising that older respondents were the group most likely to report feeling some sort of pain every day.

  • 45-54 year olds are the age group most likely to experience daily neck, back or shoulder pain. 55+ year olds are only slightly less likely to report experiencing pain on a daily basis.
  • 26.3% of the 45-54 year olds surveyed report feeling back, neck or shoulder pain every day.

 

Graph

% of age group that feel neck/back/shoulder pain every day

  • 16-24 year olds: 13.8%
  • 25-34 year olds: 15%
  • 35-44 year olds: 18.1%
  • 45-54 year olds: 26.3%
  • 55+ year olds: 25.8%

However, those aged 55+ are also the age group most likely to never experience any back/neck/shoulder pain. When compared to 25-34 year olds, in the graph below, it demonstrates that ageing, by itself, doesn’t result in the onset of pain, but rather other factors, like posture and lifestyle, play a significant role too. It should be noted, for example, that of the desk workers surveyed, those aged 55+ were the most likely to take at least one break per hour.

Graph

% of age group that never feel any neck/back/shoulder pain

  • 16-24 year olds: 5.8%
  • 25-34 year olds: 4.7%
  • 35-44 year olds: 6.3%
  • 45-54 year olds: 9.7%
  • 55+ year olds: 18.5%

Does where one works from (i.e., home, at the office etc.) affect the likelihood of them developing daily neck, back or shoulder pain?

Is one type of working arrangement statistically more likely to result in pain than another? The below gives us an indication:

  • Remote workers are the most likely to experience neck, back or shoulder pain on a daily basis.
  • 21.3% of remote workers report feeling pain every day, compared to 18.2% of those who go to the office 5 days a week, and 13.02% of those with a hybrid arrangement.

 

Graph

 

Work Set Up

% that experience neck/back/shoulder pain every day

  • Remote: 21.3%
  • 5 Days a Week in the Office: 18.2%
  • Hybrid: 13.02%

Having said that, 9.5% of those who work remotely also report never feeling any neck or shoulder pain at all, compared to 8.2% of full time in the office workers, and 7.2% of hybrid workers.

 

Graph

 

Work Set Up

% that never feel neck/back/shoulder pain

  • Remote: 9.5%
  • 5 Days a Week in the Office: 8.2%
  • Hybrid: 7.2%

Which UK city’s workers are the most likely to experience daily neck, back, or shoulder pain?

Does the city where one is based affect the likelihood of experiencing pain and, if so, which city struggles the most?  

  • Glasgow is the city in the UK with the highest percentage of people that report feeling pain in their backs/necks/shoulders every day.  
  • 31.7% of the Glaswegians report feeling pain every day. 
  • On the lower end of the spectrum is London, with 14.9% of Londoners reporting feeling pain every day. 

Respondent in UK who experience daily neck back shoulder pain

CLICK TO VIEW DAILY PAIN STATISTICS BY CITY
City % Experiencing Pain Daily
Glasgow 31.7%
Cardiff 30.3%
Sheffield 29.03%
Norwich 28.8%
Nottingham 24.9%
Southampton 24.5%
Manchester 23.8%
Bristol 23.4%
Edinburgh 23.3%
Belfast 21.8%
Leeds 21.4%
Newcastle 21.05%
Plymouth 20.7%
Liverpool 19.5%
Birmingham 19%
Brighton 16.7%
London 14.9%

Which UK city’s workers are least likely to experience neck, back, or shoulder pain?

Of the UK cities surveyed, Plymouth has the highest percentage of respondents who report never experiencing neck, back, or shoulder pain (18.97%), while Sheffield has the lowest percentage (4.8%).

CLICK TO VIEW CITIES LEAST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE PAIN
City % Never Experiencing Pain
Plymouth 18.97%
Liverpool 13.8%
Edinburgh 13.3%
Southampton 13.3%
Newcastle 13.2%
Bristol 12.8%
Glasgow 12.2%
Birmingham 12%
Leeds 11.97%
Cardiff 11.8%
Belfast 10.9%
Brighton 10.4%
London 10.3%
Norwich 10%
Nottingham 9.3%
Manchester 8.9%
Sheffield 4.8%

Limitation of our survey

This survey has been designed to be as statistically representative as possible of UK adults, with 2,015 participants, across a broad range of professions, responding to our survey.  

However, in terms of weighting, some professions are overrepresented whilst others are underrepresented due to the nature of a survey like this, with more respondents working in a particular field than others. 

The degree of pain and frequency of pain experienced are also based upon the opinions and recollections of participants taking part in this survey.  

This survey was carried out by workplace product suppliers “AJ Products UK Ltd”. If you have any questions about the findings of this survey, including the process in which this data was collected, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  

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