Holiday Shopping and the Internet Mean Decreased Productivity

Although “cyberloafing” (or wasting time on the Internet during work hours) has become an increasingly difficult problem for many businesses, it’s particularly a challenge during the holidays. Given the hectic nature of our everyday lives in this day and age, it’s not surprising to find out that more and more people are doing much of their shopping – especially during the holiday season – online. If they were engaged in this activity on their lunch hours or in the evenings after work, it wouldn’t be an issue. But, unfortunately, all too many people spend an inordinate amount of time shopping online during the workday.

As a means of resolving the problem, many business owners and managers have tried using Internet filters to control their workers’ access. While web filters may be effective in some circumstances – such as parents who want to limit their children’s access to undesirable websites at home – it rarely works in an office environment for a couple of reasons:

• Internet filters may actually make it difficult for your employees to do their jobs, particularly if the web filters prevent them from accessing certain sites that they need for work purposes.
  
  
• The vast majority of your workers have access to any and all websites 24/7 anyway thanks to smart phones and tablet computers.

If you worry that your employees are spending too much time engaged in online shopping during the holidays – or any other time – be open and honest with regard to how much it negatively impacts the company. Remind them that shopping online during breaks and their lunch hours is okay, but the rest of the workday needs to be spent focused on business-related tasks.