Christmas Holidays & Work

[Heskey]

Having never had a job through Christmas, I'm wondering whether or not the current arrangements are naff, or if the staff's bellyaching is actually warranted.

What're the usual holiday arrangements at your work place for the Christmas season?

[ChrisJG]

Me and my staff will stop working on 19th December and start again on 6th January - the calender has been particularly kind this year. Haven't worked over christmas for quite a few years now. The timber industry pretty much closes down.

[Welshbeef]

Depends on your industry.

In finance you may well have year end 31st Dec.. and thus that will mean lots of people in.
Also there is a min number of people required in the office for x activities/answering the phone + you will have people who have been in the role for a long time and have booked xmas off many many months ago - therefore by default you may not be able to take any of it off.

This happened to me - the reason being the OP in the team stated that they took it in turns to have xmas off and this was her year (which was true) but as I was new to the role but also wouldnt be in the role for next xmas it stank. Similar story happened one July & Aug basically the whole team were out with long leave and I wanted a last min holiday but couldnt. So as soon as my line mgr came back from holiday in late Sept I handed him my full years holiday requirements for the next year which included the summer & xmas etc all off. He was highly reluctant to approve it as it turned out that it meant he couldnt go away in the summer... Tough I say. And I have adopted this approach in every role since - remember you can always cancel your planned leave...

Imagine stuck in the office peak season summer & winter & then having to go overseas totally off season with worse weather. Lesson learnt.

[Nimbus]

bank holidays off, except for callout / standby.

other days in between, treated as normal working day, at least 2 of the team in.

Not bad time to be working, actually as its normally quiet, can fix some of our older faults, and an excuse not to hit the shops with the great unwashed.

[bigTee]

finish on 19th back on 5th.

and we have the 17th off as we have the Christmas party on the night of the 16th!!!!

[Mc Lovin]

AS we design and produce football programmes, Christmas is our busiest time of the year, well for the designers anyway, im off for two weeks

[sleep envy]

depends what I've got on over xmas but this year I'll work through

benefits are the phones don't ring, 10am start, long lunch, 4pm finish, no traffic/rush hour

[Heskey]

Well from what I gather, we're being sent home at mid-day on Christmas Eve (a Wednesday?), off Thursday, off Friday, off Sat/Sun by default as no one works weekends here, then back in on Monday? What the fk?

I don't personally work in, but the business as a whole is telesales (advertisement)

Edited by Heskey on Thursday 20th November 11:08

[andy-xr]

Financial year runs to calendar year here, but we have a slowdown come week 3 of December anyway

It's expected that we'll be contactable by phone/email if needed

[sleep envy]

swerni said:

sleep envy said:

depends what I've got on over xmas but this year I'll work through

benefits are the phones don't ring, 10am start, long lunch, 4pm finish, no traffic/rush hour

which reminds me.

We need to arrange a beer in town between Christmas and New Year

I could work out of Liverpool Street...

[Dizi]

Sounds about right. The IT company i work for will be in over the Christmas period - we only have Christmas and Boxing day off as standard.

[sleep envy]

Heskey said:

Well from what I gather, we're being sent home at mid-day on Christmas Eve (a Wednesday?), off Thursday, off Friday, off Sat/Sun by default as no one works weekends here, then back in on Monday? What the fk?

and?

since when have the days between xmas and NY been public holidays??

[Welshbeef]

Oh yes - xmas eve is alwyas finish at midday (unless your working in a shop or bar) goes without saying - or if your sh&t at your job and have not finished the minimum tasks you may have to stay on a bit.

If working over xmas yes its very start 10am long lunch and off by 3.30pm latest.

Personally over xmas I either work from home - log in from home - or sometimes I just want to get out of all the xmas activities and get some quiet time & off beer time.

[Mc Lovin]

Heskey said:

Well from what I gather, we're being sent home at mid-day on Christmas Eve (a Wednesday?), off Thursday, off Friday, off Sat/Sun by default as no one works weekends here, then back in on Monday? What the fk?

thats what we'd do, however usually you use your remaining holiday for the time off.

[Marf]

Just the bank holidays here. For the past 5 years I've managed to take 2 weeks off starting on the 23rd though so I cant complain.

[littlegreenfairy]

Christmas Day and Boxing Day off, back in on the Monday. Then New Year's Day and back in after that.

[Eddh]

The MOD is open over Christmas but 99% of people don't work it. Me and a friend are working every available day. I get Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day off.

I don't like Christmas so am pretty happy to work. I'm also going to take my xbox into work and sit there on my arse all day as no managers are in

[TonyHetherington]

sleep envy said:

Heskey said:

Well from what I gather, we're being sent home at mid-day on Christmas Eve (a Wednesday?), off Thursday, off Friday, off Sat/Sun by default as no one works weekends here, then back in on Monday? What the fk?

and?

since when have the days between xmas and NY been public holidays??

Absolutely. If it's a bank holiday, you don't work. If it's not a bank holiady then use your annual leave or go to work.

I can't see how that's difficult or even unexpected?!!?

[hugoagogo]

I remember telling some workers they had to work on Xmas eve a couple of years ago, they moaned and said "no-one works xmas eve"
I said "loads of people work xmas eve"
"name one" said the lad
"father xmas, now stop moaning"

[trumpet600]

Heskey said:

Well from what I gather, we're being sent home at mid-day on Christmas Eve (a Wednesday?), off Thursday, off Friday, off Sat/Sun by default as no one works weekends here, then back in on Monday? What the fk?

Whats wrong with that?

I'd work if the office was open and take the time off in the summer.