Spending lunch hours at expensive restaurants may be a thing of the past. During these slow economic times, most employees are looking to cut daily eating costs. Eighty percent of workers, according to a survey by Vault.com that questioned 436 employees, have decided to alter their workday food and drink habits.

Sixty percent of employees are bringing their lunch from home to save money. Twenty-eight percent of workers want to reduce morning and afternoon coffee runs. Other money-saving options during meal times include picking less pricy restaurants, avoiding the vending machine and skipping company happy hour.

One survey respondent has decided to bring lunches more often: "used to pack twice a week, now pack[s] every day." Another worker chose to decrease coffee visits: "I may be personally responsible for the closing of at least one Starbucks."

Some employees have thought about major alternatives to cut costs. Forty-two percent of workers are reflecting on changing careers or moving to a new city in order to find a more profitable position. On the other hand, 41 percent of respondents feel they must stay in an unsatisfactory work environment due to the fear of not finding another job opening. Other workers had a "staycation" rather than a vacation this year, and some employees are working longer hours or searching for a second job.

Commuting is another area where respondents want to save money. Sixty percent of workers have decided to make some sort of modification when traveling to and from the office. Twenty-five percent of workers aren't using air conditioning or driving slower to maintain gas, while 22 percent of employees hope to work from home. Other ideas include public transportation, searching for a job closer to home, joining a car pool or walking/bike riding/skateboarding to work.

"Regardless of their industry or career path, American workers are clearly reacting to the global economic crisis in meaningful ways on a daily basis," says Vault CEO Erik Sorenson. "Our survey reflects the plunging markets and drop in consumer confidence."

For more information, visit www.vault.com.

BE AWARE OF CERTAIN BLOCKING PROGRAMS

Internet blocking software is meant to improve productivity in the workplace. But some programs actually prevent access to certain sites that are needed to complete an assignment; this can cause frustration among employees.

BeAware Corporate Edition software serves as an option for protecting Internet activity without restricting influential sites.

"Companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year on software that doesn't solve the underlying problem — that is, eliminating time wasting opportunities and security threats that employees regularly encounter on the Internet," says Adam Schran, CEO of Ascentive LLC.

Schran refers to BeAware as software that monitors and alerts rather than blocks and filters. Employees will still be able to open certain sites to finish their tasks.

Schran provides other advantages of this program:

— Offers easy installment.

— Tracks employee activity through e-mails, chats, Internet sites and programs.

— Sends notifications if a certain word or website is viewed by a worker.

— Takes up a small amount of network broadband usage.

— Provides reports for managers to see what employees are working on.

— Works for any sized staff (from 1 to 10,000 employees).

— Enables managers to turn off tracking system for workers to have a "private time" to surf the Internet.

For more information on the software, visit www.ascentive.com.

To find out more about Amy Winter and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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