Does Holiday Shopping on the ’Net Impact Office Productivity?

NEW YORK, NY… December 5, 2006...

It starts out innocently enough….at home your children use your computer for their homework…so today during your lunch break at work, you decide to buy their Christmas presents online. But the website is saturated with visitors and screens are building too slowly. You decide to try again later when the boss is in a meeting. You often stay late when working on a project…..Where’s the harm? Before you know it, in the privacy of your cubicle or office, you are using the Internet during “off-peak” hours for all your online shopping needs. Addictive isn’t it? And very, very counterproductive.

Statistics vary on the number of hours of worker productivity are lost to online shopping in the workplace. But most agree, it increases markedly during the Christmas holiday season. The reasons for using this office tool for personal use also vary- from a sense of entitlement, to need, to in some cases, an extension of one’s job responsibilities that may include procurement.

The Internet as a shopping vehicle has risen sharply over the past few years. Online holiday sales have continued to grow steadily as well. This year, online retailers are already seeing an increase in online sales for the 2006 holiday season. Last year, online sales reached $26 billion. That’s alot of X-Box®-es and Tickle Me Elmo®-s! (For reference, in 2000, online Holiday sales were a paltry $5.7 billion.) The National Retail Federation has predicted that online holiday sales for 2006 will reach $32 billion. Translation: One in four Holiday purchases will be made online!

For decades, retailers braced for the day after Thanksgiving: Black Friday, the highest shopping volume day of the year. (And a field day for pickpockets, con artists and other criminals.) After the turn of the century, however, retailers noticed that their sales figures for Black Friday were dropping. ’Turns out, shoppers had turned to the Internet. The rise of comparison shopping first attracted online “browsing”. Now, with safer encryption for credit card purchases, Internet use alone is considered responsible for the shift in shopper loyalty (and retailer migraines) from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, the first work day following the Thanksgiving weekend. Bad news for retailers is worse news for CEOs: Workers now wait for Monday to Holiday shop, taking full advantage of the often faster Internet service at work.

If you are an office manager, don’t think that Cyber Monday ends employees shopping online while at work. While online holiday shopping officially begins that day, the busiest online shopping day has fallen on a Monday between December 12 and 18 for the past eight years.

What to do? Kessler International, the world’s leading forensic investigative firm and White Collar crime specialists, offers this suggestion for Office Management: Some companies protect their servers against security threats and productivity losses during the holiday season by monitoring employees’ Internet access with a filtering and reporting software product. There are many fine Web-use management field software products available. While it may appear that “Big Brother” is watching, it enables companies to clearly communicate Web-use policies to their employees, then closely monitor for compliance. They aren’t being Scrooge- just thrifty. Online shopping during working hours may not seem like a “big crime”- but a sizeable loss in productivity due to staffers’ online shopping could lead to layoffs…..after all- workers are paid to work! Season’s Greetings to all: treat yourself to broadband, send the kids to bed and online Holiday Shop at home!

See Also: “Only Scrooge Would Approve: Identity Theft Surges At Christmas” http://www.investigation.com/press/press51.htm

For more information about Kessler International, contact Michael Kessler at 1-800-932-2221 or visit the Kessler International website at www.investigation.com.