Thirty Percent of Workers Holiday Shop Online at Work
KANSAS CITY (PRNewswire), November 25, 2007 - 'Tis the season for grab bags and gift exchanges. If you are among the 30 percent of workers who have or plan to holiday shop online while at work this year, career advisors recommend making purchases during your lunch hour or break time. A new survey from CareerBuilder.com finds that half (50 percent) of all employers report they monitor employees' Internet usage. The survey included 5,989 workers and 2,929 hiring managers and human resource professionals.
As online shopping kicks into high gear on Cyber Monday (a term coined by the National Retail Federation for the first Monday after Thanksgiving), productivity in the workplace may be impacted. CareerBuilder.com's survey found that nearly a quarter (24 percent) of workers who holiday shop online expect to spend two or more hours doing so this year. Thirteen percent plan to holiday shop online for three or more hours while 5 percent anticipate spending five or more hours.
"Employers tend to be more lenient around the holidays -- in fact only two percent say they have fired an employee for holiday shopping online," said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com. "However, workers need to be mindful of company policies on Internet usage and should designate their lunch hour or break times for shopping excursions or other non-work related activities."
Internet Usage at the Office
- Research: 61 percent of workers use the Internet for non-work related
research and activities while they are at work. Among these workers,
20 percent spend on average more than an hour of their workday on
non-work related online activities and nine percent spend more than
two hours.
- Email: When it comes to keeping in touch, 60 percent of workers say
they send non-work related emails at work, with 20 percent saying they
send six or more per day. Of those who send non-work related emails,
22 percent spend more than 30 minutes during the typical workday doing
so.
- Instant Messaging: One-in-five workers (21 percent) report they send
instant messages while at work. Of those who IM, 45 percent say IMing
makes them more productive.
- Networking: Nearly two-in-five workers (37 percent) have a social
networking profile. One-third (33 percent) of those with a profile
spend time on their social networking page during the workday with 9
percent spending 30 minutes or more.
- Blogging: One-in-ten workers (12 percent) have a personal blog, but
only 20 percent update it at work. Of those who do blog at work, only
six percent spend a half hour or more blogging.
When it comes to getting things done, 71 percent of hiring managers say Internet use at work for non-work related activities negatively impacts productivity. Half of employers surveyed said they monitor employees' online activity - 23 percent monitor both time spent online and content, 19 percent just monitor content and eight percent just monitor time spent. Nearly one-in-five employers (18 percent) said they have fired an employee for using the Internet for non-work related activities. More than one-third (35 percent) of organizations monitor employee emails and 7 percent said they have fired employees for sending non-work related email.
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Smokefree Workplace Law Reduces Heart Attacks 59% Among Nonsmokers
KANSAS CITY (PRNewswire), November 25, 2007 - A new study released by Indiana University researchers shows that strong smokefree workplace laws result in immediate and significant improvements in heart health, particularly in nonsmokers. The study found a 59% net decrease in hospital admissions for heart attacks, also known as acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs), in nonsmokers with no prior cardiac history in Monroe County, Indiana versus the control county during the study period which tracked 22 months prior to and following the implementation of a smokefree law.
According to Cynthia Hallett, Executive Director of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, "The Monroe County, Indiana study is the eighth looking at the link between smokefree laws and heart disease. The results are consistent among all these reports, conducted by different researchers in different communities. The bottom line is smokefree laws save lives."
The study, "Reduced Admission for Acute Myocardial Infarction Associated with a Public Smoking Ban: Matched Controlled Study," conducted by Dong-Chul Seo, Ph.D. and Mohammad Torabi, Ph.D. will be published in the coming month's Journal of Drug Education. It measured whether or not there was a change in admissions for acute myocardial infarctions in patients with no history of previous cardiac events or key risk factors for cardiac events [hypertension and/or high cholesterol] during the study period - the 22 months prior to and 22 months since the implementation of a smokefree law that covers workplaces, restaurants, bars and clubs in Monroe County, Indiana vs. the control county, Delaware County, Indiana, which had no smokefree law during the study.
The Monroe County study is groundbreaking because it is the first to examine the impact of a smokefree workplace law on the heart health of nonsmokers, rather than the general population. It reaffirms the conclusions of the landmark 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Exposure, which states that secondhand smoke exposure may have immediate effects on the cardiovascular systems of nonsmokers.
Previous studies in Helena, Montana and Pueblo, Colorado showed a 40% and a 27% overall drop in acute myocardial infarctions following the implementation of smokefree workplace laws in those cities. Studies in New York, Ireland, Scotland, and Italy found similar results.
"Smokefree indoor air is a mainstream idea whose time has come," said Hallett. "It's no longer a question of who will be next to go smokefree, but who will be last."
More than 655 U.S. local communities and 25 states have enacted local laws providing for smokefree air in all enclosed workplaces, including restaurants and bars, according to the ANR Foundation Local Ordinance Database. Nearly 60% of the US population is protected by a smokefree law, but gaps remain in some regions and job sectors.
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Good Managers Have Significant Impact on Workers' Overall Job Satisfaction
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