Am I a Grinch?

Around the holidays, however, productivity can really drop as employees utilize our high-speed Internet connection to complete their holiday shopping. Am I being a Grinch to want to control the amount of time employees spend shopping online? Or does it really save productivity since they don’t have to leave the building and fight crowds at the mall? Should I ask them to curtail this shopping?

— E. Scrooge (Actual name and company withheld)

Three ways to handle online shopping at work
by Meryl K. Evans, Editor, PSJ

Twenty years ago, managers had to address employees chatting too much in the break room or around the water cooler, and on the phone. Ten years ago, Solitaire tempted employees away from work or gave them a needed break. Today, all of the above plus online shopping and personal calls on cell phones compete with the company for the employees’ attention. What awaits us 10 years from now?

According to a Workforce Management poll on online shopping at work, 63 percent of respondents don’t think online shopping is a problem in the workplace. Only 6 percent block the Internet, and 16 percent think online shopping during working hours is a problem. Half the respondents admit to shopping online.
 

Robert Half International reports that 64 percent never shop during work hours. Those who do say that during the holiday season they shop less than three hours online.
 

Since the holidays have passed, for most employees, the need to shop drops back to normal. Even so, the Internet still calls to the employee who hungers for information, entertainment or killing the boredom blues. Is it time to accept that personal interruptions are okay, as long as employees get work done? Or where should companies draw the line? Readers provide the following advice.
 

• Set a policy for Internet use during breaks.

• Limit personal time at work.

• Review the situation.
 

Set a policy for Internet use during breaks

A reader recommends establishing a policy that personal Internet use should be minimal or done during breaks, before or after work. Beware that if employees take breaks at the same time, online shopping could slow down Internet access.
 

In addition to letting employees shop during break time, a few readers’ companies expand that option by letting employees shop in the employee lounge or break room. Employees can use these computers before and after work, and during breaks. Knowing the company set this up, employees may not feel the need to shop on their computers. One important note for security’s sake: Put a note or a sign by these public computers reminding employees not to let the browser save their login information or leave any personal information around the computer.
 

Limit personal time at work

Some readers say it’s not Grinchy to want employees to stay away from online shopping while at work. Herb Collins, senior learning specialist with IBM Corporation, thinks excessive Internet use for personal business equates to making personal phone calls. Unlike phone calls, though, using the Internet is less obvious and easier to get away with. One solution is to limit personal time spent on the Internet at work.
 

"Excessive personal use of corporate Internet access has become such a problem that some companies are starting to shut off all but necessary business-related access to the Internet with the requirement to justify additional access if/when needed. Regarding concerns about the mall — employees can do online shopping at home or can go to the local library or a friend’s house or to an Internet cafe. I don’t think you’re being a Grinch. You’re just identifying an increasingly problematic, less obvious time-waster that has evolved with the new technologies."
 

Review the situation

Various factors can affect how a company approaches the situation. For instance, it would not be a good idea to schedule times of the day where employees can use the Internet for personal business at a call center. This case calls for creating shifts. Also, how much time are employees spending on personal business? Maybe they only do it during lunch break or take an occasional 10-minute mental break. In this case, let it go.
 

"If employees spend hours shopping, then their regular work obviously isn’t getting done. You may want to consider using the amount of work done as your barometer. Some people are more productive after completing personal business, while others are more distracted. The bottom line is: They are being paid to complete a certain level of work. If they do that (or more), you may want to allow the cyber shopping to continue.
 

"However if productivity has dropped, address the issue — just be cautious of sounding too much like the Grinch. If you ‘steal Christmas’ shopping all together, you stand the chance of an even larger drop in productivity from low morale."
 

After all, if the work gets done well and on time, does it matter what the employees do? Having guidelines or a policy helps instill trust in employees so no one abuses the privilege. Holiday time or not, staff appreciates the little things like surfing on the Internet (cleanly, of course) and return the favor by being ideal employees.
 

Meryl K. Evans is the content maven behind this newsletter. She has written for The Dallas Morning News, PC Today, InformIT and others. Stop by her site or check out her blog.