Ipswitch Inc.’s Network Management Division released survey results of its 100,000 customers which asked how long employees spend shopping online at work in the lead up to the holidays.

Results revealed that 28.3% did not know how long their employees were spending Christmas shopping online at work. 42% of employers found their staff was spending over the amount of the average lunch break to shop online, which had an effect on business productivity.

"Online shopping is no longer just being done after work hours and it appears that liberties are being taken, with many staff spending up to two hours a day shopping online during working hours," says Ipswitch Network Management Division president, Ennio Carboni.

It is safe to say that online shopping has become the popular route of choice for many shopping this holiday season.

According to comScore, which focuses on measuring the digital world, ‘Cyber Monday’ reached $1.25bn this year, making it the heaviest day in online spending history and it seems with having constant internet access, shopping online during work hours will go strong into the holiday season.

Employer responses on time employees spend shopping online:

11.8%: Our web policies restrict this
13.4%: 0 – 30 minutes per day
15.0%: 1 – 2 hours per day
15.7%: 30 minutes – 1 hour per day
15.7%: Over 2 hours per day
28.3%: I don’t know