Workers at the UK's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would pay their bosses if it would allow them to have more leisure time, according to a new study.

Consumer website Fool.co.uk found that 70 per cent of UK workers are unhappy with the amount of leisure time they currently have and 51 per cent would pay their employer for an extra hour off each day.

Most people said they would be prepared to pay around £5 a day for the extra time off, but eight per cent would be prepared to pay £10 for increased amounts of leisure time.

"We all know that Brits work too hard and just don't get enough free time - what's surprising is just how much people are prepared to pay for as little as an extra hour a day," said the website's head of personal finance, David Kuo.

Recently, experts have called on SMEs to embrace IT technologies to allow their workers to work in a more flexible manner.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate that 3.4 million people in the UK used fast broadband and good IT equipment to allow them to work from home.