Team-building exercises – dreaded by office workers across the world – do make people happier at work, research from leading universities has found.

Researchers from institutions including Norwich's University of East Anglia, discovered evidence that group activities were effective for improving wellbeing.

Successful projects tended to include everyone, even those who might be reluctant to take part, and had more than a one-off activity.

Simply spending time on a shared project, such as mentoring programmes, action planning groups, social events or workshops, were shown to have positive effects.

Prof Kevin Daniels, who led the research team, said: 'Good social relations between workers and between workers and management are among the most important factors for well-being at work, resilience and engagement. The research shows that, with the right intent, it can be straightforward to improve social relations at work.'