Should we let employees shop online? 

‘Tis the season of goodwill, and though few employers are likely to encourage staff to trawl the online shops for bargains in favour of getting on with their work,  allowing online shopping activity during break times could be a good way to make sure productivity is maintained during working hours.

Managing people & networks on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and beyond.

Beaming’s Managing Director, Sonia Blizzard, comments: “Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now firm fixtures in the UK’s online shopping calendars. While good news for e-commerce retailers and customers, these events have the potential to harm productivity and expose businesses to greater cyber security risk. Companies need to think about how they manage this.”

“The main threat of these big retail events is cyber-crime. When people trawl the internet for bargains they become easy prey for the kind of retail click bait criminals use to infect corporate systems. Clicking on one erroneous link can expose a business, its entire network and everyone they trade with, to greater risk of data theft and computer viruses, the bills for which can be enormous.”

“Employers can use Black Friday and Cyber Monday as an opportunity to educate their people. They should have honest conversations about cyber security, encourage people to speak up if there is any possibility of a breach and create goodwill by allowing staff to shop online during their breaks but we would recommend that this is done away from their desks. Allowing staff to access a separate internet connection on their own devices is the best way to keep this kind of traffic off the main business network and minimise the risk of damage to systems.”