A Rough Year-End Schedule

Most years, managers schedule a vacation week, and that’s that. But this year is a whole different story—a wonky period in which both Christmas and New Year’s fall on Wednesdays, and Hanukkah begins on December 25th. In each instance, employees don’t want to work the following Thursdays and Fridays; meanwhile, parents are in a childcare crunch. “If you don’t deal with it now, you’ll run into unexpected delays or miss key priorities,” says engagement expert Mark Royal, senior client partner at Korn Ferry.

To be sure, employees in industries that don’t shut down—such as healthcare, hospitality, retail, and transportation—are accustomed to working year-round, as are others who work with clients in those fields. In 2023, 28% of U.S. employees worked on weekends, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, suggesting that roughly 20% to 25% of the workforce is employed by organizations operating seven days a week. But that leaves approximately three-quarters of employees hankering for two full weeks of holiday vacation.

This year, the struggle is particularly acute for parents: Most schools won’t reopen until Monday, January 6th, forcing parents to take paid time off on the second and third day of the year. It’s the opposite of a hug from corporate America. “There’s a degree of leadership empathy needed here,” says Ron Seifert, a leader in the North America Workforce Reward and Benefits practice at Korn Ferry. He says the January 6th school opening “creates a challenging dynamic in a lot of households.”

Experts say there are no easy answers. But they advise first thinking through how to handle everyone’s return, and working backward from there. “The start-back day carries big decisions for the leader,” says business psychologist James Bywater, senior client partner at Korn Ferry, including where and when to start. What’s the messaging when everyone returns? Some leaders dive into financial data. Others deliver inspiring words about 2025 or set one-on-ones with the whole team. Thinking through those plans can help leaders determine staffing needs, he says.

Experts also advise that managers get ahead of scheduling issues as best they can, beginning with communicating December work priorities to employees. This includes a clear statement of what work needs to be completed in order to both finish 2024 strong and make a clean break before 2025, says Royal. Then comes coordination. Experts say the mistake that managers make, year after year, is allowing one employee’s vacation to cause a team project to stagnate. Communication with team members about their plans is essential, in order to avoid too many workers scrambling to take days off at the same time.

The price of poor coordination is high. Unexpected developments can emerge at work, occupying employees who are trying to get away. “Suddenly it’s January, and people are feeling frustrated and not rested, because they were tied up with fire drills,” says Royal. This effectively makes them carry their exhaustion into the New Year.

Experts suggest offering flexibility where possible around Thursday, January 2nd and Friday, January 3rd, particularly to parents, who will otherwise have to use two days of PTO to start the year. “It’s been a rough year on so many fronts that maybe companies could be a little more forgiving,” says Sharon Egilinsky, a partner in the Organizational Strategy practice at Korn Ferry.

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