Orange County Register

 11 Comments

• Get REAL says:

  November 28, 2009 at 10:26 am

  Is this really in need of a poll? Please, it's STEALING to take the time you are being paid for and use it for your own agenda. How many people would hire someone that said in the interview "just so we have an understanding, I plan to use the company computer and company time to do a little shopping during the holidays", anyone game for a little honesty and integrity???

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• Judy says:

  November 28, 2009 at 10:44 am

  Well people sure don't mind blogging on this site during their work hours. Take a look at some of those stories that have hundreds of comments. Don't tell me at least some of those folks are at work.

  Me, I'm retired. :-)

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  • Just Saying..... says:

    November 28, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    Judy - too funny! you are soooooo right!!!

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• f4tweet says:

  November 28, 2009 at 10:46 am

  Should on be able to shop on the job?

  Poof reed Rejistur!

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• Value vs Compliance says:

  November 28, 2009 at 11:49 am

  As an employer, I understand the need to be fair and consistent when it comes to company policy and employee behavior standards. I also know how difficult managing a workforce can become when employees are not productive and morale is low. Though the use of internet/shopping on line may seem like "STEALING" to some...I disagree.

  My employees work from 10 to 12 hours per day. They receive 30 minutes for lunch along with standard breaks. I find the value of a productive employee far more a benefit to the overall organization performance than whether employees follow rules. That said, I don't tolerate, safety violations and my employees know false report can be means for immediate termination. These are two areas of our policy that they know zero tolerance is in force. They also agree in writing to not abuse the use of internet and acknowledge that their log-ins and sites visited are logged.

  I don't mind that they spend time shopping on line as long as they remain productive, they complete all the work assigned to them and maintain performance goals we set together every year. My employees maintain near perfect attendance and I have had no behavioral issues to deal with for more than five years. We have also maintained no time loss due to accidents. And we have continued to grow in profitability even through the current tough economy.

  Lastly, I find it interesting how some people will identify the use of internet to shop at work also engage in 10 to 20 minute long conversations about their latest family vacation, their new car, new husband/wife or the latest joke.

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• Greg says:

  November 28, 2009 at 4:20 pm

  If you are a hourly employee you shouldn't be doing it and you should refer to corporate policy for doing shopping on a company computer during breaks and lunch time.

  However if you are a salary exempt employee then I don't see a issue with it. The company would have no problem asking you stay after normal work hours to work unpaid overtime. If you are salary exempt then the company should be treating you as a professional and if you want to shop while you are at work as long as your work gets done then I don't see a issue with it.

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• OffTheBooks says:

  November 28, 2009 at 5:11 pm

  Ok on lunch or breaks.

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• ocobserver says:

  November 28, 2009 at 7:21 pm

  I thought shopping on-line on the employer's dime was only a gobblement phenomenon. Get caught doing it in the private workplace and it is legitimate grounds for dismissal. But since no one in the gobblement is held financially accountable and there are more than an ample amount of taxdollars to fund waste and dereliction of duty, shopping on-line is common in the public sector. Even go into a state or county run office before??? It's almost like like walking into an office full of zombies. Sleeping with their eyes wide open.

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  • Bengia says:

    November 30, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    I'm in awe of how you can make a blanket statement such as "...shopping on-line is common in the public sector." I suppose that you have seen any number of statistical reports with internet sites & hits per IP address buoying your crass statement's as "fact/s" ... The tripe and drivel that you have presented here has no bearing or merit.

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• ishdakuteb says:

  November 28, 2009 at 9:13 pm

  this question is needed to be thrown to all different classes of people though.

  1. Temp worker/employees or Employees who do not have work stations.
  2. Those employees who have workstations:
  a. Prof.
  b. Clerk/Data Entry or any other jobs needing a computer to work with but not prof.
  3. People who working for federal/goverment (Can anyone tell me this answer)

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• internetaddict says:

  December 1, 2009 at 11:48 pm

  I work for the government and became codependent on having access to the internet ... but that all changed within the last year.

  Two new managers came to our office and they started making their many changes that they expected others to follow, while they continue doing something different.

  I guess I complained too much about all the changes and the last 5 months I have been on their radar.

  Now, I don't even dare go on the internet. While many others utilize the Interent throughout the day, some constantly they do this because they are not on the radar.

  When Michael Jackson died people were on the Interent 9 to 5, with the exception of breaks. with the Hoilday shooping, people are on all the time.

  We recently received in the last two to three months an email of our Internet policy but people continue to stay online, including those applying the rules.

  So you can access the internet but you must be friendly(kiss butt) with management and they will turn the blind eye on you but the minute things change they supposedly will say some virus, worm, high useage was detected and the next thing the IT printed out ever site you visiteed in the last six months.

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