Companies Getting 'More Flexible' About Cyber Monday Shopping While At Work
BOSTON (CBS) -- As American workers snag online bargains as part of Cyber Monday, one analyst says they won't be working so hard.
Patrick Gareau from Robert Half Technology said about half of workers in the country will be shopping online today.
"We have, through our latest survey, about 49 percent of employees that say they typically shop online at work on Cyber Monday," Gareau told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens.
Gareau says that, over the years, many employees have become more lax about allowing workers to shop online while on-the-job.
"For shopping policies, a lot of companies now are being a little bit more flexible with it," said Gareau. "They believe that allowing employees a little bit of flexibility to shop online may keep them in the office. Somebody shopping at lunch isn't necessarily a bad thing. Everyone does have down time--that actually keeps them in the office, from leaving early or taking a day off to go shopping."
Some companies, however, still block shopping sites.
"At a majority of firms, employees don't necessarily even know the shopping policies," Gareau said. "Companies have been letting their employees know what is allowed and what is not allowed."
UMass Lowell economics professor Michael Obel said Cyber Monday will soon eclipse Black Friday as the year's biggest shopping event.
"Cyber Monday will start becoming more of the focus in peoples' minds, especially as shoppers and millennials, they get older, their buying power increases," Obal said. "I think this will be more of the focus for the holiday season than Black Friday. Black Friday will almost be like a secondary sort of sales day."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
