Working Over the Holidays

With Memorial Day right around the corner, I thought we’d discuss working during the holiday season.  While it’s not ideal, in today’s crazy economy and the push for everyone to get ahead in business, sometimes working on the holidays can’t be avoided.  There are pros and cons to doing so.  It’s also important as a boss to know how to treat your employees should you indeed make them work over the holidays.  So what are some of the benefits and drawbacks of working over the holidays and how can you, as a boss, make it easier for employees to do so?

Not everyone wants to work on major holidays like Christmas or New Year’s Eve but sometimes that can’t be avoided.  Many small businesses do choose to remain open during the holidays to compete with bigger retailers and not miss out on revenue opportunities.  While most workers would prefer to spend quality time with friends and families, small business owners can do small but meaningful things to make employees feel appreciated when they do in fact ask them to work on holidays.

Should you ask an employee to work over a holiday, try giving them some choice in which shift they work.  Allow employees to trade off with other workers for preferable shifts and hours or switching holidays among staff.

Give back to your employees when possible.  Even if it’s just a handwritten thank you note, letting your employees know their extra hard work is appreciated goes a long way.  Maybe give them a small token of your appreciation like a $10 or $20 gift card.  Maybe even some holiday treats or cookies.  This might even lead employees to consider working the next year’s holiday.  “Making that connection makes the effort more real to employees that their work was recognized.  Get specific with them.  When employees make a link between anything the company does for them with their own effort, that makes a difference.”

Get festive.  Consider allowing a small office celebration for holiday work.  Think about letting employees dress down especially as clients are likely not to be visiting the office.  This keeps morale high.  Maybe even decorate the workplace so employees feel that they are still celebrating even though they are at work.

Make yourself visible.  Think about stopping by during the holidays and thanking your employees one-on-one for working over the holidays.  This is especially easier in smaller companies.  Consider gathering your employees all in one room and thank them for the effort they are putting in by giving up precious time with family and friends to indeed work over the holidays.  Smaller companies have a family-like feel and you should breed that feeling as a boss.  Telling your employees that you appreciate them, never hurts.

All that being said, as an employee, there are pros and cons to working over the holidays.  One pro is that not everyone has family and friends to spend time with over the holidays or there are those who don’t really want to spend time with those people.  Working on a holiday is a good option or maybe one could say a good excuse to having some time to yourself.  However, if you are one of those people that does want to spend time with friends and family, working over the holidays makes that null and void.  While you might not work the whole holiday, your time with them will be limited indeed.

A good pro of working over the holidays is that it shows your boss that you are dedicated to your job.  Accordingly, you are likely to be rewarded for your hard work.  A proceeding con, however, could be that it could set you up to work more holidays if your boss feels you are a go-to person to ask to work over the holidays.  Your boss might assume that just because you can work one holiday, you can work them all.

Another pro is that you are likely to earn extra money.  Bosses might tend to be generous with compensation to those that are willing to put in the extra effort.  One might get a better bonus or paid time-and-a-half.  That said, a con could be that you’re so busy working, you don’t have time to spend that money.  But, hey, putting it away in savings never hurt anyone.

As I’ve discussed today, there are pros and cons to working on holidays.  Showing your boss you’re a hard-worker, earning extra money, avoiding family and friends if you so choose.  There are cons such as missing out on that dear time with your loved ones.  Additionally, as a boss it’s important to show your employees that they are appreciated for putting in the extra effort to work a holiday and there are meaningful ways to do that.  While it’s not the perfect situation, sometimes working over the holidays can’t be avoided especially in small office environments so know what works best for you and when to say yes or no to working on a holiday and as a boss know how to show that you are grateful for the extra effort put in by your employees for their sacrifice.

Here are some articles you might want to check out about working over the holidays:

“The Benefits of Working on a Holiday”: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/11/21/the-benefits-of-working-on-a-holiday/

“Has Working on the Holidays Taken Over?”: http://justicewordlaw.com/has-working-on-holidays-taken-over/

“Why I Work During the Holidays”: http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/12/24/why-i-work-during-the-holidays/

 “Working on the Holidays Doesn’t Have to be a Pain”: http://www.newslab.org/2011/12/16/working-on-holidays-doesnt-have-to-be-a-pain/

Until next time…