It seems us workers are a dishonest lot thieving, lying and making up our expenses.

Small-scale pilfering and expense fraud is costing UK plc £831 million per year according to a survey of UK office workers released today by the Advertiser's online recruiter Fish4jobs.co.uk.

While 43 per cent of UK workers think expense fraud is dishonest, many workers feel justified in making long-distance telephone calls from work.

Some dishonest employees have even sent out their wedding invitations at the expense of the company.

According to the survey results, 78 per cent of office workers have taken home stationery over the past year and 59 per cent have put personal post through the company mail.

One in five have added £10 or more to an expenses claim while 15 per cent admit to having inflated their travel expenses.

More seriously, two per cent say they took a friend out for a meal and charged their employer while three per cent say they falsely claimed back £50 or more on an expenses claim.

Many office workers feel that they are simply getting back a little of what their employers take from them.

Two-thirds (67 per cent) say taking home stationery is justified due to having to make work calls from their personal mobile phone.

While 29 per cent say getting 'a little back' on expenses is OK as bosses very often ask for extras such as having to work beyond normal working hours.

However, Fish4jobs CEO Jonathan Turpin would urge employees not to justify small scale expense pilfering: "Individually most of this activity is minor but if you take an organisation with 100 employees the amount it costs is staggering.

"If office workers feel their salary package is not high enough, they should either ask for a pay rise or look for another role where they are remunerated accordingly, rather than resorting to stealing office stationery for unpaid overtime."

One in five workers think that expenses' fiddling is an acceptable part of company life so long as small amounts are involved.

Four in 10 office workers say they think bosses regularly charge personal items back to the company.

Based on the survey results, Fish4jobs estimates that the cost of small-scale expenses fraud to a 100-person office is around £4,460 a year or £44.60 per employee.

Mr Turpin says: "That's equivalent to losing seven PCs a year. For many small companies every penny counts.

"Our advice to employers is two-fold. Firstly cut down on any perceived grey areas. Publish guidelines on what can be claimed and make clear what isn't acceptable.

"Secondly a culture of honesty should start at the top and managers need to lead by example.

"If the people you work with see you putting a personal claim through the company, even if it is just a £5 cab fare, then they are obviously more likely to follow suit."

Fish4jobs has published a list of the ten most outrageous expenses claims thrown up by the research.

They include going to a lap-dancing club and charging back the cost to the company, using a £300 cash advance to take the kids to Disneyland and living it up in a posh hotel at the company's expense.

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