The morally damning research from Landesk,  the international security and process management specialist, revealed that some of the most commonly stolen items included intellectual property (36%), passwords (40%), mobile phones (21%), IT software (17%) and even laptops (8%).

Some of the more bizarre items that have been stolen included a drill, a towel and even a set of handlebars. One in 10 employees has even admitted to stealing their colleagues belongings.

According to Andy Baldin, Landesk's vice president, whilst employers would like to think that most employees are honest, it's pretty clear that many are not.

"For a business, if you lose something like a laptop, it's not just the cost of the product, but also the information on it", he said.

"With an asset lifecycle management solution in place, employers can track equipment and prevent the corporate looters from making a fast getaway", he added.

The survey was completed to prepare the way for the release of version 4 of LANDesk's asset lifecycle manager (ALM) which allows companies to detect, identify, harvest, and reuse software assets, and so reduce the cost and risk of IT operations.