Maybe it’s time to bring in the office-hours police, to tell us exactly when to go home. After all, we seem to be really bad at deciding sensible home-times for ourselves. A survey of more than 2,300 people suggests that 40 per cent of UK workers stay in the office far longer than necessary.

The reasons for this tend to be futile at best and at worst counterproductive, says research by Right Corecare, a company that runs employee-assistance programmes: a quarter of us who stay late just surf the internet, checking Facebook and Googling our favourite teams, while a sixth admit to working late simply to impress the boss.

The study reports that while 15 per cent of workers believe staying longer helps their careers, only 8 per cent have received a pay rise or promotion as a result. Such misuse of resources costs serious money. Harvard Business Review reports that US companies lose $150 billion (£76bn) a year because of presenteeism.

The situation may only worsen, says Right Corecare: “As the economy slows down and employees become concerned about their positions, more will seek to secure their jobs by being first in and last to leave.” How do we stop it?

This survey is only the latest of many urging caution about presenteeism. But the problem won’t disappear of its own accord. Outside help is needed.

A modern equivalent of the “end of schoolday” bell might be the answer. So, an alert starts to flash on your computer screen when normal office hours are over. After a while, the system regularly logs you out. And each time you log back in, you have to record a good reason for being there. The technology may also start to monitor what you’re actually up to. It sounds draconian, but if employers can save money by making us spend less time at the desk and more with our loved ones, it may be a winner all round.

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