As Thanksgiving weekend officially kicks off the holiday season, one tradition that is returning this year is online shopping at the office. Cyber Monday, a term coined by the National Retail Federation for the first Monday after Thanksgiving, will likely be a busy day for Internet use at work. Twenty-nine percent of workers say they have holiday shopped online at work, on par with previous years. Of those planning to shop online this year, 27 percent will spend one hour or more. More than one-in-ten (13 percent) said they will spend two hours or more. Workers should be mindful of their companies’ electronic communications policies, though, as nearly half (47 percent) of companies said that they monitor Internet and e-mail use of employees. This year’s survey included more than 2,400 employers and more than 3,100 workers.
"Employees need to be aware of how much time they are spending online, regardless of the time of year," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Most employers know that their employees may use some time during the workday for Internet shopping, non-work emails and other personal matters, but employees need to be mindful of whether their employer has specific guidelines in place restricting these behaviors."
General Internet Usage
More than one-in-10 workers (13 percent) said they spend one hour or more using the Internet each day for non-work-related activities or research while at work. Workers are advised to limit their Internet searches to those related to work or to use their lunch hour or break time for these activities:
- 21 percent of employers have fired someone for using the Internet for non-work-related activities.
- 5 percent of employers have fired someone for holiday shopping online at work.
- Half of employers (50 percent) block employees from accessing certain Web sites while at work.
Personal E-mails
Workers are also cautioned about e-mail content as nearly six-in-10 (59 percent) said they typically send non-work-related e-mails each day. Sixteen percent report they send six or more personal e-mails during a typical workday.
- 27 percent of employers monitor e-mails.
- 9 percent of employers have fired someone for non-work-related e-mails.
