Some 31 per cent of office staff find internet and emails breaking down the most annoying occurrence, according to a study of 800 respondents by ECigaretteDirect.co.uk.

An unrealistic workload came in second with almost a fifth (18 per cent) of people finding that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get through their tasks.

Fourteen per cent say that a bad commute is the most stressful part of their working day, coming third in the poll.

A spokesperson from ECigaretteDirect.co.uk says, ‘Many of us don’t realise how stressful the office environment can be as it just melts into the fabric of everyday life.

‘However, it’s no surprise that internet malfunctions came top of the list. In today’s technology-driven age so much of what we do is reliant on being online we often feel lost and frustrated without it.’

Other items on the list which were found to cause maximum office frustration included compiling end-of-year accounts (11 per cent) and people being late for meetings (9 per cent).

A brave 8 per cent went out on a limb to identify their boss as the most annoying thing about going to work, with 6 per cent citing demanding clients as the main reason behind their working frustrations.

Perhaps surprisingly, a lack of office equipment and a shortage of tea and coffee polled relatively low on the list with only 1 and 2 per cent respectively stating them their main office gripe.