It's Official - Given More Time - All We Want For Christmas Is To Relax

Boots unveils results from an exclusive MORI 'Chill' poll that shows that, given more time, relaxation would the top of people's Christmas lists this year.

- Boots' Poll Shows That If We Had More Time Relaxation Would Be Top Of People's Christmas List & Now Boots Offers Chill Time To Staff -

Boots today, unveils results from an exclusive MORI 'Chill' poll that shows that, given more time, relaxation would the top of people's Christmas lists this year.

One in three of the population feel they simply don't have enough time to relax at Christmas. And two thirds say they feel stressed by factors such as; thinking of gift ideas, Christmas shopping and money worries. 28% say they don't feel stressed at all in the run up to Christmas and these are more likely to be men. If we had more time, having time to relax would top the list as well as having extra time to spend with the family and visiting friends.

The results also indicate some regional differences when it comes to getting stressed with those in Wales feeling the strain much more than those living in the Eastern region. And people in the East Midlands are more likely to feel that not having enough time to relax is an issue compared with those living in Yorkshire and Humberside.

As the results are released, Boots also announces that it is offering 'Chill Time' to all its 50,000 store and warehouse staff to give them time to get ready for the festive season. Whether it's to go shopping, gift wrapping, or simply to take time out to relax, Chill time is equivalent to a half day and can be taken by staff in the run up to Christmas.

Stephen Lehane, director of personnel at Boots, said "Our staff work extremely hard all year round and are particularly busy at Christmas. That's why we're inviting staff to take advantage of 'Chill time' to catch up on their own shopping or to enjoy a few hours of pampering."

"Christmas comes, but once a year is enough! Christmas should be a time when we feel our happiest but for many it's a time of added stress and strains and that is often a result of people simply not having enough time. It's great to see Boots helping its staff to enjoy Christmas in this way." Ben Renshaw, co-director of The Happiness Project, author of Successful But Something Missing. Professor of organisational psychology and health at UMIST, Cary Cooper said "These days we're juggling so many things, constantly trying to balance home & work life. For many it's hard to find any time to do what's important to them particularly at Christmas. I am behind what Boots are doing to help"

Technical details

Detailed results from MORI Poll*:

  • The three things that the public are likely to find most stressful over Christmas are;
    • Thinking up gift ideas 35%
    • Buying gifts 32%
    • Money worries 30%
  • If people had more time at Christmas the things they are most likely to want to do are relax (48%) and spend more time with friends and family(47%)
  • Women, people with children and workers are most likely to feel stressed and that they have insufficient time to relax at Christmas.
  • Those in the higher income brackets (16317,500+) are more likely to be stressed at Christmas. This could be a result of the fact that the lower income group has a high proportion of 55+ age group and this group tends not to find Christmas stressful.
  • One third of those who work would like to take more time off at Christmas
  • Single people would like to go to more parties - almost two in five in this group
  • Nearly one in three men aged 15-34 would like to eat & drink more
  • One in four women aged 15-34 would like to spend more time pampering themselves and one in five would like to spend more time shopping.

Technical details

*A nationally representative quota sample of 2031 British adults aged 15+ were interviewed throughout Great Britain on the MORI omnibus across 188 constituency based sampling points. Interviews were carried out using CAPI (Computer Assisted personal interviewing), face-to-face in respondents' homes between 18th - 22nd October 2001. Data have been weighted to reflect the known national population profile.

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