Money fix: Save big on Cyber Monday, be productive at work

Plenty of employers nix the idea of staff using company time and bandwidth to snare holiday deals on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Still, a survey conducted for Melville-based staffing firm Adecco finds 14 percent of the 1,011 respondents saying they plan to shop online for holiday gifts while at work, regardless of permission.

Pierce Mattie, chief executive of Manhattan-based Pierce Mattie Public Relations Inc., does give his employees the green light to shop that day, with an 11 a.m. cutoff.

"You can't avoid the inevitable," he says, so why not find a way to "cocoon it." Also, he says that the buzz of getting deals leads to higher productivity the rest of the day. Tips for those whose bosses say it's OK to shop:

Plan: Don't use the day to surf aimlessly. Research your target items and ask for site suggestions from your network. Work from "an electronic shopping list," says David Green, vice president of SpectorSoft, an Internet monitoring and surveillance firm in Vero Beach, Fla.

Timing: Come in early, stay late and use your lunch break to avoid peak work times. Think in terms of "timed segments," says Green, and that means no hitting "refresh" to check whether an item has been reduced.

Security: Sure, you're not working on your own computer, but who wants to be the one to "gift" your employer's system with the latest worm or virus? Be especially vigilant about where you click.

Option: How about Cyber Black Friday, which Talya Schaeffer, co-founder of eCoupons.com, based in West New York, N.J., says is gaining traction. Retailers also offer online deals on that day, which you may have off, or, if you are working, is likely to be pretty slow.