The holiday season can often be stressful for some individuals in a variety of ways, but it’s possible that not much of this stress comes from work, as many people tend to take more personal paid time off at the end of the year.
Results from an analysis by data content firm Priceonomics and project management software company Redbooth revealed that winter is the least-productive season for employees, with December being the third-lowest month of productivity (behind January and February, respectively). Fall is the most productive season, likely because individuals are rushing to complete tasks before the holidays create potential chaos in their lives.
For many people, depending on the professions and industries in which they work, the last couple of weeks of the calendar year are a bit more relaxed and often include multiple days spent outside of work and more time than usual with family and friends. Dallas resident Juliette Vielhauer, a management consulting senior analyst, said her company gives her a couple days off for Christmas, but she takes some additional days so that she can be fully present with her family around the holidays.
“The beginning of December is usually very hectic as my team scrambles to get our year-end initiatives wrapped up,” she said, “but we always end up finishing them early and can jump-start our vacation with some chill work days.”
Not everyone has as much flexibility as Vielhauer this time of year, though. Former Dallas-area resident Karen Brinkmann, a senior test development specialist who now resides in Montana, said she is quite envious of the people who are able to put work to the side for the last week or so of December.
“It’s my work’s busy time of the year, so I have to stay focused,” she said. “Our company has the 26th off, so any additional time that I’d like off, I need to put in as a vacation day.”
There are also those who choose not to take additional time for themselves during the holidays because doing so would not benefit their careers much. Dallas-area resident J.T. Gordon, who works in consulting, said he generally takes a couple of weeks off during the course of the year, but that time is not during the Christmas season. For him, this period is financially advantageous.
“It’s usually the most productive time of year because there are fewer distractions,” he said.
Dallas resident Brice Pierce, a senior program manager, said how much work employees and businesses produce at year-end depends on each specific company and what calendar it follows.
“When your fiscal year ends in January, there are almost 30 days to slam through a bunch of deliverables after the holidays are over,” he said. “When your fiscal year ends in June, it might be a bit slower, but there’s still not a lot of encouraging everyone to take off work at the same time.”
And then there are professions that require individuals to work the same amount (or perhaps even more) because of the nature of the jobs. Dallas resident Carolyn Fan, an emergency medicine resident at a local hospital, said her workflow is pretty consistent, regardless of what time of year it is, and she averages 6 days and 70 to 80 hours of work each week. As such, she doesn’t take any intentional time off around Christmas and New Year’s Day. However, the month of December could bring her a variety of patients who are less frequent in other months.
“The added stress of the holiday season results in different populations coming into the hospital at times,” she said. “A lot of mood disorders come in around the holidays. Additionally, people tend to let their medical conditions get worse before coming into the hospital because they don’t want to miss out on seasonal festivities.”
In the corporate world, though, as Pierce pointed out, many organizations have a “use it or lose it” policy when it comes to PTO, so more people tend to take more time off at the end of the year. Additionally, those who work with clients in other nations or employees of various cultures might also notice less amounts of work required of them.
“International companies, especially, go quieter due to longer holidays for employees in European countries, meaning that projects or initiatives including them (especially as decision-makers) can’t make progress,” he said. “There are also about two dozen or more major cultural holidays between November and December, so folks of all backgrounds are looking to take time away from work to celebrate.”
Rather than a celebration, it might also be a personal mission. For Vielhauer, it’s important to be able to step away from work for a bit to focus on her overall well-being and ensure that she is ready to effectively tackle whatever comes her way in the next chapter.
“After working hard throughout the year, I think everyone needs a little break, at the very least to recharge and refocus for the next year,” she said. “Every year, I try to take this quieter time to reflect on the year and decide what I want the next year to look like, both personally and professionally.”
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