How Grinchy Should Employers Be About Online Shopping?
How much time will your employees spend shopping online at work this holiday season? Here are some interesting statistics from the Information Systems and Audit Control Association (ISACA):
- 63% of employees shop online using their work computers;
- the average employee plans to spend 14.4 hours (nearly two full work days) shopping online at work;
- 1 in 10 employees plans to spend more than 30 hours at work shopping online;
- convenience (34%) and boredom (23%) are the biggest motivators for online shopping at work;
- 55% of employers allow online shopping but don’t educate employees about potential risks;
- 26% of employees shop online without adequately checking web site security;
- employees between the ages of 18-24 spend the most time shopping online and take the most risks; and
- employers lose an average of $3,000+ in productivity per employee due to online shopping.
In addition to lost productivity, failure to address the above activity can result in viruses, spam, phishing and other horrible things that can cripple a company’s IT infrastructure.
Almost all companies have implemented computer usage policies to deal with these issues. But many of them are ridiculously overbroad and inconsistently enforced, which can result in morale issues and discrimination lawsuits.
So, what should employers do?
- Implement a reasonable computer usage policy and consistently enforce it.
- Train employees on appropriate computer usage before the holidays and follow up with reminders.
- Implement basic security measures such as spam filters, patches, firewalls and intrusion detection systems and update them regularly.
- Monitor networks for suspicious activity, respond quickly to threats and remind employees to notify management of potential problems.
- Conduct periodic risk assessments and update the usage policy and security measures accordingly.
For more from ISACA on this topic, click here.
Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower’s North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.
