The biro in your bag and the post-it notes sitting next to your home phone, liberated from the office stationery cupboard, are the thin end of the wedge, according to an employment law firm.

Peninsula polled over 2,000 office workerrs to find that 72% admitted to stealing, and of those who had stollen, 81% believed it was morally wrong.

The results point to a culture where the boundaries between right and wrong are becoming increasingly blurred, according to the law firm's MD Peter Done.

He commented: “We appear to be becoming a culture where it is deemed evermore acceptable and commonplace to steal from your employer. The ethical boundaries that once existed in our society appear to be becoming ever more watered down and eroded.”

Done added: “The act of stealing itself is quite simply wrong because stealing is a criminal offence, and can have serious consequences for the individual committing such a grievous act, no matter whether the item(s) stolen are small and insignificant or large and expensive, the principal is the same. However the attitude and stance taken towards it is another matter, which cannot easily be resolved. The most common items stolen often range from small amounts of stationary such as post-it notes, pens, pencils and paper to computer programmes and equipment.

“Workers need to realise that they simply cannot continually get away with stealing from their employer, it is an illegal act and criminal prosecutions can be brought against them for doing so. Employers need to make it clear in their employees' contracts of employment that stealing is unacceptable, whilst also setting out clear punishments for anybody who does so.”