If you can’t access Amazon.com and other popular internetretailers, you work for a company on the extreme end of thespectrum of workplace shopping restrictions.

According to a survey of chief information officers by RobertHalf, an employment consulting firm, 25 percent of CIOs say theircompanies have online restrictions to prevent employees frombrowsing for holiday deals at work. That’s down 8 percent from2012.

Conversely, another 25 percent of CIOs reported that theircompanies do not impose any online shopping restrictionson workers. That’s up from 10 percent in 2012.

In the moderate middle are the 48 percent of CIOs whosecompanies don’t prohibit any specific sites but look out forexcessive use.

Read: Bosses more likely to shop online atwork

For companies, the calculation is pretty clear. They have todecide whether the potential distractions from shopping sites orthe potentially damaging effect on morale from strict rules poses agreater threat to productivity.

For employees, the calculation is both practical and ethical.The survey of more than 1,000 employees included in the studyshowed that 30 percent feel guilty about shopping at work. But 28percent say that taking a break from work to shop ultimately makesthem more productive.

Nearly a third of employees said that their online shopping hadcaught the attention of a manager in the past. But only 15 percentof those caught said they were reprimanded, while 30 percent saidthat the interaction was in fact a positive shoppingdiscussion.

"Many professionals appreciate the ability to get some quickonline shopping done at work during the busy holiday season," saidJohn Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology."But employees should recognize that most companies keep tabs ontheir online activity. Professionals should follow safe andsecure browsing practices, and keep distractions at work to aminimum."