As the holiday season approaches, there is a strong temptation to flush out savings on the internet, including from work. Good news: companies are quite favourable, trusting in their employees’ ability to manage their time.
According to a survey conducted by Robert Half Technology with 270 information system managers, 22% of businesses across the country let employees have unlimited access to shop freely online, compared to 12% in 2012. 54% make sure that the use of shopping sites stays reasonable with monitoring. And 24% of businesses block all access to these platforms, a reduction of 33% compared to 2012.
Lenient supervisors
While employees consider shopping to be a normal activity, they sometimes feel bad when they spend time on it. 19% out of 450 employees surveyed feel guilty spending time on shopping sites, 15% feel less productive and 27% think that colleagues who make purchases online are neglecting their work. For their part, supervisors appear to be more lenient. In fact, out of the 12% of workers who said they were surprised by their boss while shopping online, only 6% were reprimanded.
A mark of confidence
According to Deborah Bottineau, Regional Senior Director of Robert Half Technology, “Letting employees have access to online shopping sites is an easy way to get their gratitude (specially during the holiday period), by showing them that you have confidence in their ability to manage time.” However, professionals must show themselves to be responsible by minimizing distractions during their working hours and be vigilant about the sites they visit.