More than half of us expect our Christmas to be interrupted by work concerns!

Christmas is supposed to be a time of celebration with friends and family to relax and indulge, but many of us will struggle to leave wok behind and enjoy our time off.

The Daily Mail reported today that half of us expect to be interrupted by work and three-quarters worry about their job in the run up to Christmas

With modern phones, tablets and laptops it is possible to stay connected wherever we are- which is great most of the time- but can leave people feeling like there is no escape over holiday periods.

More than a quarter of people fear they will miss out by having to work over the holiday while more than one-in-five worry their Christmas will be plagued by work concerns.

A poll of 1,000 workers discovered while 58 per cent had not asked for extra hours over the festive period more than half (50.8 per cent) have had their Christmas interrupted by work, and of those more than a third (37 per cent) have been bothered more than once.

People working in the IT and telecoms sectors are the most likely to be troubled during the winter break, making up 40 per cent of those bothered by their boss. Financiers are the most distracted by work over Christmas, while accountants are the most worried that they will not finish their work in time for the holidays, the study found.

Geographically workers in the north of England the most fearful of having to work during the festive period, with people in Manchester worrying the most (40 per cent), followed by Newcastle (34 per cent) and Liverpool (31 per cent). In the Midlands workers in Birmingham are the most concerned (30 per cent).

More than four out of ten respondents said they felt pressured into taking on more hours during the holiday season to pay for the festivities.

However it is respondents in the south of England who are most likely to be plagued by thoughts of work this Christmas, with the highest number of worriers in Plymouth (29 per cent), London (27 per cent) and Southampton (27 per cent).

‘The results of the study are very troubling, showing that many people not only feel pressured to take on extra work to pay for Christmas, but also feel an inability to relax and switch-off over the holiday period,’ said Sue Weir, CEO of healthcare firm Medicash, which commissioned the survey.

Are you looking forward to some festive downtime, or does the thought of going off-grid for a few days and turning off your phone have you in a cold sweat?