Dive Brief:
- Following last year's record low post-recession era rate, employees are once again upping their online shopping game while on the job, according to CareerBuilder's annual Cyber Monday survey.
- Exactly half of workers say they'll be spending at least some work time holiday shopping, up 3% from last year. Of this group, 42% will spend an hour or more doing so.
- Some employers don't find that to be a good idea, as 12% of employers say they've fired someone for holiday shopping on the Internet while at work (compared to 8% last year), and 56% say their organization blocks employees from accessing certain websites from work — up 3% from last year.
Dive Insight:
"In a world where the lines between the professional and personal are becoming more and more blurred every day, it's not surprising that more employees are bringing personal activities to the workplace," said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder. "Employees should follow the rules, but employers should be careful not to micromanage. The issue should be more about performance than about what employees are doing with their time."
As mobile technology continues to have a growing presence in the workplace, more workers are using their gadgets to shop. Forty-two percent of employees use their personal smart phones or tablets to shop, a strong increase from last year (27%).
Which sectors surveyed have the most at-work online shoppers? Sales (63%) and financial services (62%) top the list, with information technology, healthcare and transportation all scoring above 50%. The lowest among the sectors? Retail, which had only 39% of workers shopping online.
