The guilty habit your boss secretly hates

The statistics have revealed 50 per cent of Australian employees receive their online shopping at their workplaces. Photo / 123RF

It seems innocent enough — but new research has found while half of us get personal parcels delivered to work, almost a third of our bosses are less than impressed.

The statistics have revealed 50 per cent of Australian employees receive their online shopping at their workplaces, with 37 per cent of us getting parcels delivered at least once or twice every month.

An extra 13 per cent of workers receive personal mail at work at least three times every month, and people in their 30s are the worst offenders, with 62 per cent of workers in this age bracket indulging in the habit up to twice per month.

However, the research, which was conducted by parcel delivery service CouriersPlease, also found a whopping 29 per cent of bosses don't allow personal mail delivery on the job at all.

Of the workers who were banned from having packages delivered at work, most said they would prefer to have the item delivered to their home without requiring a signature. If not possible, 56 per cent said they would collect it from a post office or depot, 23 per cent would organise a parcel locker and 21 per cent said a parcel collection shop would be their delivery preference.

The research also found workers in their 60s were the least guilty, with 68 per cent of employees in this age bracket never having mail sent to the office.

CouriersPlease CEO Mark McGinley said online shopping was now a fact of life for most full time employees.

"With the latest statistics showing Australians spent $24 billion online in the 12 months to November 2017, and with online retail sales increasing by 4.7 per cent in November last year — the highest monthly growth rate since 2014 — it's clear that online shopping is a fact of life for the majority of Australians," he said.

"While most workplaces recognise this, there are still numerous workplaces that need to adapt to the pervasiveness of online shopping in Australia.

"The retail industry is reliant on smooth parcel delivery options to continue accommodating growing customer demand for online goods."

Mr McGinley urged workers to check their office's parcel delivery policy and to discuss the issue with a manager if the rules were unclear.

If personal mail delivery is banned altogether, he recommended redirecting mail to a secure parcel locker or retail outlet to ensure it arrived safely.

Failing that, having the item delivered to a trusted neighbour was another option.