38 percent of Canadian employees will shop at work during holidays: survey

Nearly two in five Canadian employees (about 38 percent) shop online from the office or when using corporate devices.

The numbers come from a survey from staffing firm Robert Half Technology. The firm said that of respondents to its survey, 21 percent admitted that hunting for cyber deals hinders their on-the-job productivity.

Workers ages 18 to 34 are more likely to shop at work (47 percent are likely to shop) compared to employees ages 35 to 54, 38 percent of which will likely shop at work. Seventeen percent of workers 55 and older are likely to shop on the job.

Additionally, 44 percent of people who work on the job say they’ll spend under 30 minutes per week shopping from work, while 38 percent say they’ll spend up to an hour.

Most who shop at work (39 percent) say they’ll shop on any day, but 22 percent said they prefer to shop on Cyber Monday. Amazon Prime Day followed at 16 percent.

Robert Half says that while 76 percent of technology leaders say their firms allow for shopping on the job, 55 percent preferred employees avoid shopping on the job. The top concerns about shopping at work among tech managers are security risks (62 percent) and loss of productivity (30 percent).

The firm suggested that online shopping at work can be a helpful way for employees to manage to-do lists and reduce the pressure of shopping for the holiday season. However, it said businesses should make “a proactive effort to refresh and communicate IT security policies” to help mitigate potential security risks.

Robert Half developed the online surveys used to gather the research, which was conducted by independent research firms. It includes responses from over 500 workers 18 yeards of age or older employed in office environments as well as over 270 IT decision-makers in Canada.

Source: Robert Half Technology