trendz - our client newsletter

june 2005

trade me? trade me not...

Isobel Kerr-Newell, communications and research adviser at Barbara Buckett & Associates warns Trade Me auction addicts against bringing their habit to work. This article was originally published in NZ Lawyer, Issue 17 and is also set to appear in an upcoming book called Trade Me Success Secrets published by Activity Press.

There are members of this office who are self-confessed Trade Me auction addicts. I have recently admitted that I am one of them. Who couldn't love this one-stop shop where anything and everything is for sale at any hour of the day? The thrill of the chase, the adrenaline rush of the last three minutes of an auction and the sweet taste of victory, tinged with a hint of buyer's remorse when your bid wins the auction. Surely one million registered Trade Me users can't be wrong. 

The only problem is when your buying and selling activities continue at work. The latest site statistics on Trade Me show that on average 190,630 people visit the site each day and stay an average of 27 minutes per visit. On a slow day at the office, how many of you are guilty of contributing to these soaring statistics? I know I would have to put my hand up. My personal weakness is designer rip-offs. For others it may be antiques or collectibles, cars or drill bits, beanie babies or bling bling. Whatever form your Trade Me addiction takes you will know that one click is never enough. 

Trade Me use at work often starts harmlessly, but before you know it your personal use of the office computer over the lunch hour has expanded into a whole afternoon with your eyes glued to the screen and your clicking finger mysteriously bonded to the mouse.

Recent crackdowns on personal usage of work computers have stung employees across the board. You don't necessarily have to be looking at offensive websites to be dismissed - the consequences for spending a working afternoon on Trade Me can be just as serious. I have certainly been made to reconsider any work-time indulgence of my Trade Me habit.     

Any good support group will tell you that the next step after admitting you have a problem is being able to ask for help. So I went to the firm principal, Barbara Buckett, and with her expertise in employment law and my abundant experience with Trade Me, we were able to identify the main problems with Trade Me usage at work. The first is the number of hours spent on the site, which would otherwise be spent on work. The second is the email notifications sent to a work email address that lets you know when an auction is closing or if your bid has been exceeded by another member. It may well have been that you placed these bids legitimately in your own time on your home computer, but if the email notifications come through to you at work problems can arise.     

It may only take a second to respond to one of these email notifications (go in, place a bid and go out), but if you are receiving 20 or so notifications per day, the time spent away from your work activities, combined with the interruption to your workflow, means you start to log up some serious hours of personal computer usage. Remember also that each time you access a page you are generating hits on it as the page is downloaded to your computer. The number of hits generated varies depending on the content of the page. For example, if a page consists of text and, say, five images, then the page will generate six hits when accessed, one for the page itself, and one for each image as each image is downloaded independently of the page. You might only spend ten minutes on the website, but in that short space of time you could potentially rack up several hundred hits. 

Personal use of a work computer generally goes unnoticed until such time as an employee begins to have performance problems. If you are unable to meet the expectations of your employer, questions begin to be asked as to why the work isn't being completed. One of the first things an employer is likely (and entitled) to do is conduct an audit of your computer usage. Suddenly all those hours whiled away and all those hits you've accumulated on Trade Me are uncovered and provide a handy explanation for the poor performance that has been identified. If it gets to this stage there are likely to be serious disciplinary consequences. Depending on the policy of the company, such usage may constitute serious misconduct and result in the termination of your employment. 

Then there is the question of disparity. If someone in your organisation is facing disciplinary consequences as a result of inappropriate or excessive computer usage, it may well be that your entire office must undergo a computer audit. Again it is within the employer's rights to request this. While you may have no issues with performance, your personal computer usage may be close to or equivalent to the employee whose performance is in question. In this case, the employer may be required to deal with you in a similar manner to the employee who prompted the audit - at least as far as computer usage goes - so disparity in the treatment of employees can not be alleged.      While these warnings apply to both Trade Me sellers and buyers, sellers should be particularly wary of 'trading' during work hours, as this may amount to operating another business on work time. No employer is going to look kindly on any sideline business ventures during your contracted working hours while they are paying your salary. 

In the end, a large part of the problem stems from vague internal computer usage policies. Many organisations allow 'limited personal use' of workplace computers. But how do you define 'limited'? The exact definition of limited is currently being debated at employment disputes across the country. In order to eliminate any doubts the Trade Me addicts at our offices have recently been made to go cold turkey, as our computer usage policy now states that no personal usage of work computers is allowed. 

Our advice is no matter how much you love Trade Me, use the site in your own time, preferably at home, and don't register a work email address for notifications. Make sure you know what your organisation's policy is on appropriate computer usage, and if in doubt clarify the policy with management in writing. Otherwise you might find all those hours spent on www.trademe.co.nz at work are replaced with days spent at home looking on www.jobs.co.nz for new employment.

If you would like to discuss any issues raised in this article or would like further advice please contact us at Barbara Buckett and Associates. You can also visit our discussion group or Barbara Buckett & Associates blog to have your say. 

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Disclaimer: This article is necessarily brief and general in nature. You should seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please refer to our Legal Notices.

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