(Published December 15, 2008)
So Christmas and New Year's Day are on Thursdays this year. That means that, with Thanksgiving, we have three holidays with only one workday standing between us and a four-day weekend. What do you do?
Depending on where I was working, I've had those Fridays off, I've had to work them for no premium, or I've worked them with premium pay. Whether these days are workdays is really company specific, of course. But I suppose there are really two ways of looking at it if you choose, or need, to have it as a workday.
On the one hand, since so many companies are closed that day, it can be a really good day to work on some of those projects that you haven't been able to get to without interruption. You'll probably have a lot of employees who take vacation days, so there'll be fewer people knocking at your door, and since there won't be a lot of other companies open, your phone probably won't be ringing a lot. It'll be a terrific time to get some concentrated work done on those open enrollment issues that came up, or on your new compensation plan, or the upgrade of the company handbook. For the executives and managers, just some uninterrupted time to work on their pet projects can be a relief.
On the other hand, the employees who are there and who don't really want to be (yes, of course that means you, too!) are unlikely to be particularly productive. (This also goes for the day before a holiday, particularly before a long weekend.) This might be a good time to be thinking about employee motivators. It might be a good day for you to assign tasks that don't take a lot of thought or that can be done in a group. Have you been looking for a good day to clear out the storage closet or weed through the files? Does the office need to be cleaned or painted? Is there a way to turn a group activity into a fun day?
Not everyone can treat these days lightly, though. The days after Thanksgiving and Christmas are among the busiest of the year if you happen to be in retail, for example. And, of course, your expectations of performance have to be at their highest.
For example, the day before Thanksgiving, we were still in the middle of open enrollment. It was not a good time to go for light projects, as the phones were ringing furiously and we had a number of walk-ins. But as the day wore on and more and more employees in other departments were leaving for the day, our phones got quieter, the walk-ins fewer. Our director decided that the majority of the department could leave, with pay, and get a head start on the holiday traffic, leaving just a skeleton staff to deal with the remainder. On the day before the upcoming holidays, there'll be a rotation so that everyone gets to leave early at least once.
I've talked about employee motivators before; in the current economy it might not be possible to pay premiums for those who are working, but there might be something you can do: gift certificates; some of those extra giveaways you have left over from the benefit fair; even just a Power-Point-printed certificate of achievement can mean a lot to your employees. A little recognition often goes a long way!
Happy Holidays!
Catherine Bannon is an HR consultant in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting practice.
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