While you may be eager to take advantage of online deals and avoid the long lines at the mall this Cyber Monday, you may wind up in the unemployment line if you shop online from work.

A new study from CareerBuilder finds that nearly a quarter of employers (24 percent) say they’ve fired someone for using the Internet for non-work related activity, and 8 percent pointed directly to online shopping at work.

Workers may have gotten the message, as less than half (47 percent) of U.S. workers say they plan to shop online at work this holiday season — down from 54 percent in 2013, and the lowest rate in the post-recession era.

Not as I do

Employers, however, aren’t exactly taking their own advice. The study found that the majority of senior-level employees (53 percent) — including senior management, vice presidents, directors, managers, supervisors and team leaders — are more likely to use work hours to shop online compared to 46 percent of entry-level or professional staff members.

A matter of time

Most (58 percent) workers who plan to do some online holiday shopping from work say they plan to spend less than an hour doing so this season, while some others (30 percent) will spend between 1 and 3 hours. Then there are those who will throw caution to the wind: 6 percent will spend between 3 and 5 hours, and 6 percent will spend 5 hours or more.

Shoppers by industry

Even employees who aren’t in an office all day now have access to the Cyber Monday savings thanks to mobile technology. In fact, 27 percent of workers say they use their personal smart phones or tablets to shop from work.

The industries with the highest percentage of workers planning on doing some Internet shopping this holiday season include:

• Information technology: 71 percent
• Professional & business services: 66 percent
• Financial services: 60 percent
• Sales: 57 percent
• Health care: 52 percent
• Transportation: 41 percent
• Manufacturing: 40 percent
• Leisure & hospitality: 39 percent
• Retail: 29 percent

No peeking!

So how likely is it really that your boss is going to go full-Ebenezer and forbid you from enjoying the Cyber-Monday savings? Well, that depends on your boss and on company policies.

Employers are split when it comes to how they let employees access the Web: 53 percent of employers say their organization blocks employees from accessing certain websites from work, and 32 percent monitor the sites employees visit. These figures are similar to recent years.

Additionally, half (50 percent) of employers restrict employees from posting on behalf of the company on social media, and 25 percent have adopted stricter policies in this regard over the past year.

Check out the full report for more Cyber Monday secrets.

(Picture Source: Internet)

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