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City slickers addicted to email
Work paranoia means employees can't switch off...

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Monday 07 July 2008

Workers in the City just can't resist checking in at work while on holiday with almost two-thirds contacting the office by phone, text or email while they're away.

Tech Hotspots: The list

1. Silicon Valley
2. Bangalore
3. London
4. Tokyo
5. Boston
6. Cambridge
7. Shanghai
8. Tel Aviv
9. Seoul
10.Beijing
11.Chennai
12.Pune
13.Singapore
14.Helsinki
15.Moscow
16.Hong Kong
17.Hyderabad
18.New York
19.Sydney
20.Shenzhen

More than a quarter of the 300 London workers surveyed by IT security company Credant Technologies said they check their emails daily during their holidays, with 14 per cent admitting they do so more than once per day.

Just 40 per cent said they're able to relax enough to resist emailing the office during their time off.

Respondents said one of the major reasons for this is that they feel people at work may try to take advantage of their absence.

But this diligence could also present a security risk with roughly a third of workers taking their work laptops on holiday with a fifth of these failing to secure them with a password and 68 per cent not encrypting information on them.

In addition, 83 per cent of those surveyed said they take their mobile phone or BlackBerry with them when they're spending time away from work.

But two-thirds said losing their BlackBerry or mobile phone would result in unnecessary distress due to the hassle of informing their employer.