Conducting Personal Business during Office Time

Employees often spend most of their weekday hours on the office job. Sometimes, they often may be tempted to do personal business during office hours. Such practices can include setting up doctor's appointments using company phones, making tour-package bookings using their employer's computers or sometimes arranging calls for a side freelance business during office time.

The imminent ethical dilemma is quite clear – the employees are abusing their employer to conduct own business on company time. However, what if you know that your children are ill? Is it then fine for you to go for a doctor's appointment using company lines? The most common rule of thumb is, therefore, to check with the HR managers or supervisors to get an idea of what counts as an offense according to the company policies.