British workers are returning to a pattern in which they work long hours and are set to regain their “workaholic” moniker.

New research suggests workers are starting to put in long hours again after a reduction caused by the recession.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said the recession led to a loss of more than half a million jobs in the two years to spring 2010 and a shift from full-time to part-time employment.

Many people opted to work shorter hours during the period to help their employers cut costs and avoid losing their jobs in the tough trading environment.

The CIPD said this resulted in a fall of 32 million hours worked each week in the UK.

Full-time employment fell by almost a million in the same period, while the number of part-time jobs increased by 330,000, the study found.

The total number of working hours has now started to increase, indicating a "modest" pick-up in demand for workers in the past year, according to the report.

The CIPD said there is now more of a "mixed hours" than long hours culture, with as many people working between 16 and 30 hours a week as were putting in more than 45 hours.

John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the CIPD, told the Press Association: "A marked shift to shorter working hours has been one of the key characteristics of the recession.

"But signs of an increase in long hours working since the trough in hours in summer 2009 suggest that the fall in working time during the jobs downturn was a forced detox for Britain's workaholics, most of whom will be eager to start putting in the hours again once the economic recovery gathers steam.”