Will Cyber Monday shopping get you fired?

The holiday season is upon us and Americans are counting down the days left till they can grab the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

The problem though with Cyber Monday is that it’s on a Monday, when everyone lumbers back to work. We can’t imagine most bosses would be cool with their employees shopping online instead of working.

This year’s Cyber Monday however might be more productive.

According to the latest research from Career Builder, a job search engine and database, fewer employees plan to shop during work hours compared to last year.

Career Builder reports that only 47 percent of U.S. entry-level workers (down from last year’s 54 percent) plan to shop online at their workplace on Cyber Monday. This is the lowest rate in the post-recession era.

Could this be because some companies have adopted stricter Internet use policies over the past year because of declining productivity due to online-shopping?

Possibly.

Career Builder also found that biggest perpetrators of online shopping in the office are… can you guess? Senior-level employees. That’s right, your boss is more likely to be taking advantage of this year’s Cyber Monday deals than you are.

“It’s still advisable, however, to be mindful of your company’s Web guidelines, as one in four managers tell us they’ve fired employees for non-work related use of the Internet,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at Career Builder.

What should one do on Cyber Monday, then? Do you take the risk shop online and risk a termination? Or do you wait risk losing out on the deals?