Despite being on holiday, over a third of the population spent time working from home during the Christmas and New Year period.

Research carried out by internet service provider TalkTalk shows that, on average, people spent three hours and 18 minutes checking their work email or performing employment duties. One in ten of the individuals surveyed by the firm claimed to have spent more than ten hours working from home over the holiday period.

As well as homeworking, however, widespread broadband access enabled more people to catch up with their favourite TV shows during the festive break, with a fifth opting to download videos or stream episodes on the web.

"As recently as ten years ago most of our time over the festive period was spent with our nearest and dearest, or slumped in front of the telly," remarked Mark Schmid from TalkTalk. "Now we're spending big chunks of our Christmas time playing games online, watching TV over the internet or social networking."

The freezing weather and snow experienced by the UK during December prompted the Trades Union Congress to urge more bosses to faciliate homeworking – where possible- for their staff.