Thousands of British workers return from holiday to work today - and a grudging welcome back from colleagues and a mountain of work that has not been completed.

Research by fish4jobs shows 75 per cent of people get back to the office to find colleagues have not completed the work they were asked to do while they were away.

One in three says their workmates are only pleased to see them so that they can hand the work back.

Forty per cent say they will spend the equivalent of two extra working days catching up while one in three was contacted by the office while they were away anyway.

A third of workers also admit to being preoccupied on their return to work with booking their next holiday.

Simon Devitt, publisher of fish4jobs, said: "It's no surprise that the mood will be black in many offices today.

"Not only has the holiday season ended but people have more work to do than before their holiday.

"They feel let down by their colleagues.

"The day after the August bank holiday is often one of the busiest of the year for us as people start to look for a new job."

Fish4jobs polled 1,000 visitors to fish4jobs.co.uk.

Tuesday August 31, 2004