Is Your Office Internet Use Policy Naughty or Nice When It Comes to Online Holiday Shopping
Boston, Mass. (PRWEB) November 18, 2013 -- With online pre- and post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping expected to grow another 20% over last year’s Cyber Monday $1 billion* record, employers are wrestling with either allowing employees to shop online during work or blocking shopping access altogether to rein in productivity.
According to Bloxx Inc., allowing or blocking employee online shopping doesn’t have to be an either-or decision. “With the right Web access policies and flexible Web content filtering tools, companies that allow workers to do their online shopping at work may actually boost productivity and employee satisfaction,” said Charles Sweeney, CEO of Bloxx Inc., a leader in Web content filtering and email security.
“It’s about fine tuning Web access policies and controls,” continued Sweeney. “Web filtering tools that give employees access to sites like Amazon.com or e-Bay during their lunch hour, for example, keep employees at their desks instead of driving to the local mall. This can actually boost their overall workplace productivity.”
Most Web filters, which just block a list of pre-determined inappropriate Web sites, offer simple “yes” or “no” access to shopping or productivity-hogging games, entertainment or sports sites. Tools, such as Bloxx’s real-time Web content filtering solution, let organizations set comprehensive, yet flexible security and Web access policies.
This kind of control and visibility into employees’ Web use lets organizations:
- Grant employees access to shopping sites during designated hours, such as lunch time or at the end of a shift;
- Set a limit on the amount of time, say 30 or 60 minutes, an employee can access commerce sites. Time intervals might also vary according to an employee’s role or full versus part-time status;
- Make seasonal adjustments to their access policies and Web page content categorization allowing someone, for example, to shop for a holiday deal on “sports equipment” but not access a “sports gaming” site.
The real key to putting these types of policies in place is having a Web filter, such as the Bloxx Web Filter, that looks at Web page content in real time rather than just accessing a list of known, static URL addresses to accurately categorize Web pages.
“Given that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have really expanded to a week-long shopping season, employers need to find new approaches to Web access,” said Sweeney. “During the holidays companies can be ‘Scrooges’ and lock-down their Web access filters, turning employees into unproductive clock watchers darting out the door to do holiday shopping. Or they can be more ‘Bob Cratchit-like’ and provide controlled and safe access to commerce sites, keeping employees at their jobs, happy and productive.”
(*) BlackFriday.com 2013 Predictions
About Bloxx
Headquartered in Boston, Bloxx Inc. offers Web and email filtering and security for medium and large organizations in both the business and public sectors. Bloxx has achieved unrivalled sales growth year-on-year to become a leading Web filtering provider with an estimated 5 million+ users worldwide. To find out more about Bloxx Web filtering call us at 617 924 1500, email info(at)bloxx(dot)com or visit http://www.bloxx.com to book an online demonstration.
Media contact:
Kim Novino
Bridgeman Communications
kim(at)bridgeman(dot)com
Kim Novino, Bridgeman Communications (for Bloxx), +1 (617) 742-7270, [email protected]
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