Black Monday: Will Anyone be Working?
The Monday after Thanksgiving has become known as "Black Monday" following it's cousin "Black Friday" immediately following Thanksgiving Day. Also, known as "Cyber Monday," it has become the biggest shopping day of the year - online. The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article (registration required) discussing the following trend:
"With the rapid expansion of the Internet, the Monday after Thanksgiving has grown to be the all-important kickoff of the online holiday shopping season. On that day, consumers head back to work -- and their computers -- ready to shop after the long holiday weekend... Retailers and analysts say it is fueled largely by consumers taking advantage of high-speed Internet connections at work to do their holiday shopping, sometimes after spending the long holiday weekend roaming brick-and-mortar stores, comparing prices and exchanging gift suggestions with relatives.
The article further notes that 86% of Americans who use the Internet at work have broadband connections there, and about 64% of home users now have broadband. This year, about 52 million people said they will use Internet access at work to browse or buy gifts online, according to Shop.org.
Previously I've posted (here) about the use of the internet at work and also contrasted that with the trend for employees to work eve-increasing hours (here). It's likely that employers will choose between the prospect of appearing as Scrooge during the holiday season if they choose to clamp down on employees surfing and shopping and quietly overlooking what may be an increase in the amount of time that employees spend on the web at work. However, to make matters even worse for productivity, for each purchase, there will likely be a conversation among co-workers discussing the deal, the color, the size and the free shipping.
Bottom line - employees will likely be shopping online at work more throughout the month of December. Hopefully employers will balance that against the hard work employees do throughout the rest of the year. However, if an employer thinks employees don't work hard enough to deserve a little slack, it seems to me they have bigger problems than holiday online shopping at work.
Around these parts, absenteeism is high on the Monday after Thanksgiving for another reason. It's "Buck Day" - the first day of antlered dear hunting season in Pennsylvania. Many schools declare Monday a holiday and the traffic on the PA turnpike on Sunday evening is a nightmare combination of returning holiday travelers and hunters heading to their lodges.