Employees Spend Less Time Holiday Shopping on the Job
by Sarah Knapp
Employees will be a bit more focused more on their work this holiday season. According to a survey by job search service Accountemps of 455 part-time or full-time employees, the amount of time staffers plan to shop online while on the clock decreased to an average of 1.9 hours a week.
While that average is down from 2.7 hours in 2007, employers will still need to be aware of where employees ate devoting their time. Twenty-one percent of all employees still plan to do some holiday shopping at work.
Similar results were reported in the 2009 Holiday Poll by Consumer Reports, which found that 17 percent of full-time employee's holiday shop online at work. The poll also included the gender break down, which indicates that women are more likely than men to be shopping at work (19 percent v. 14 percent).
"By and large, workers today are maintaining their focus on their jobs. The dip in the number of hours people expect to spend shopping online while at the office further reinforces the focus people are maintaining on their work right now," said Steve Kass, district president of Accountemps, parent-company of Robert Half International.
Yet, perhaps employees aren't actually focusing. "They are remaining at work so they are visible. But that doesn't mean they are working," said Roberta Chinsky Matuson, Human Resource Solutions president.
She found the results surprisingly low because while "workers are chained to their desk this holiday season, companies are sending out more and more e-mails reminding people of all the goodies they will miss if they don't click now."
