Reader Responses December 13, 2007

SURVEY SAYS: Will You Be Open Christmas Eve?

December 13, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - I'm sure some of you have noticed that Christmas falls on a Tuesday this year - and thus Christmas Eve - a day of dubious productivity at best (at least for those not employed in the retail sector) - emerges as part of a potentially convenient four-day weekend (whether one celebrates Christmas or not).

Reported by

Nevin E. Adams

This week I asked readers if your workplace would be open for business on Christmas Eve.

The short answer is – mostly not. Nearly 55% of this week’s respondents said their place of employment would be closed, though admittedly that means that roughly 46% would be open. That does not, however, mean that it will be business as usual. Of those that would be open, roughly a third say they will close early, and another quarter say they will close early (albeit unofficially) – and nearly one in five ( 19% ) said they will “probably” close early.

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As for how many readers will be around – well, a third said “yes”, about 6% said “yes, for awhile”, and 12% said they would be around “physically, anyway.” However, nearly half – even among those whose place of employment will be open in the 24 ^th – said they won’t be at work.

But how readers came to their decision to be – or not to be – at work was all over the board.

There were the ones that were always off:

We are officially closed; and even if officially open, we would have been effectively closed.

Our office is closed the entire week of December 24th — a year-end bonus.

We are always closed on Christmas Eve — the fact that Christmas is on Tuesday did not impact that decision.

We made the decision years ago to stay closed on Christmas Eve. Half of our employees tried to request it off and the other half always tried to skip out early.

There were those that had the day off this year:

Company policy has a little convoluted language, but it works out to a four day weekend for Christmas, unless Christmas falls on a Wednesday. If Christmas is on a Wednesday, we get Tuesday and Wednesday off

I work for the federal government – thanks to the President, we have off on a day that was going to be a vacation day for me (see Feds to Take Off December 24 ).

And there were those who were never off:

That darn stock market…it’s open so we are…

Those of us not taking a vacation day will come in and commiserate about having to come in and then we will all start to leave and the office will probably be empty by noon. Silly? YES!

Are we open? No way, jose! I can’t wait to enjoy this special four day holiday weekend with my family and friends! And the best part?! When we come back to work on Wednesday it’s a short week, and we get out early on Friday. And that begins another four day weekend for New Years, from which we’ll come back to ANOTHER short week! woo hoo!

We had several readers who were outside the US. One noted, “While we are “open” on December 26th (Boxing Day) many of my colleagues will be celebrating that day as well and be taking the day off (which makes for a 5 day weekend!) Happy Holidays to All.”

And those who weren’t expecting to be off:

“Christmas is the holiday, not Christmas Eve,” said one.

Another noted: “We are officially closed. I will have my payroll people come in for a short time to get what they can finished so they aren’t pulling a 12 hour day Wednesday to finish payroll. I let them take another day off in place of Christmas and New Years Eve and on the eve they only work until time cards are entered. Oddly they finish in three to four hours, the rest of the year it takes all day.”

“I’m surprised that they haven’t decided to open on Christmas Day.”

But this week’s Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who said, “Must look productive. Santa is still watching.”

Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!

We always close for Christmas Eve, regardless of when it falls.

Normally we close at noon on Xmas eve, and 3PM on New Year's Eve. We have been given the option to take one of those two days as a full day off instead. So everyone will have a 4 day weekend one of the two weekends.

No one will be doing any work - especially since we'll be be serving Mimosa's (for those who wish to partake) along with the traditional Christmas Eve brunch we have catered in every year.

I will probably work from home.

A vacation day will be used

If the financial markets are open, so are we. It is hard to believe that much will get done that day, however.

Everyone would take vacation if we were not open anyway...We will even leave early on Friday the 21st...people sneak out starting 2:00 before every holiday..

I expect a very slow day in our TPA office on Monday, 12/24. Most likely more than half the office will take a vacation day, and very few clients will be in the office.

Trying to wrap up some projects before I begin all the overtime for year-end Wooo Whoo!

Not known at this time - the wife is thinking she will have the day off and I've got enought vacation time to take the time off so......

An enhanced "benefit' this year - an extra paid holiday. We can also take New Year's Eve off, but must use accumulated vacation time.

Is the market open? Then we're open.

Not worth two hours of commuting for four hours of "work." If a full day, yes, I'd work...love the quiet!!

Our company will also be closed on New Year's Eve, giving employees two consecutive 4-day weekends.

I work at Headquarters of a large Fortune 500 company, and the office closes at noon on the 24th. The following week, the same thing will apply to Dec. 31st.

Must look productive. Santa is still watching.

I will being using the rest of my vacation I always save for the last week of the year.

Years ago, when Christmas fell on a Tuesday or Thursday, this company closed to give employees a long weekend. New management is all about cutting everything - most recently sick time. Bah humbug is alive and well in corporate America.

We are not officially open but some of us have to work anyway.

Every year, the firm offers choose-your-own-holiday in exchange for working on either Washington's Birthday or Columbus Day. This year the floater holiday was cancelled and Christmas Eve was made one of the 10 holidays for 2007.

We may the decision years ago to stay closed on Christmas Eve. Half of our employees tried to request it off and the other half always tried to skip out early.

We are a residential care facility so we have to be open for the residents however all of the business office staff will be taking the day off.

Our office is closed the entire week of December 24th -- a year-end bonus.

We always get both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as holidays, regardless of what day of the week they're on. If one or both falls on a weekend, we get equivalent weekdays off, before and/or after the holiday weekend. Not a bad deal!

We get hardly any holidays all year...but we have SHUTDOWN from 12/22 to 1/2 with pay. It's worth it!

We are always closed on Christmas eve -- the fact that Christmas is on Tuesday did not impact that decision.

Are we open? No way, jose! I can't wait to enjoy this special four day holiday weekend with my family and friends! And the best part?! When we come back to work on Wednesday it's a short week, and we get out early on Friday. And that begins another four day weekend for New Years, from which we'll come back to ANOTHER short week! woo hoo!

Closed Monday and Tuesday means I only have to take 3 days of PTO for a full week off! And then come back on the 31st, and the office is closing an hour early and then another day off! Hooray for not working retail.

No matter which day of the week is Xmas, the day before should NOT be a work day, nor the day after. Boxing Day (& how many people know this does not mean everyone sitting in front of the TV watching people duke it out?) The US has fewer holidays & vacations than most of civilized Europe; I wish the Puritans had settled somewhere else.

We have a company shut down from 12/24 through 1/1. This counts as part of our holiday allowance.

closed 12/24 and 12/31

Wanted a 4 day weekend, so scheduled the day as a floating holiday. Same thing next weekend for new year's eve.

Fortunately,Christmas Eve is one of our regualar holidays.

It seemed to be easier to shut down Christmas eve and avoid the conflicts for our employees

The office building where our suite is located will be closed. As a result, I get an extra day off!

We decided to use our "floating" Holiday to cover Monday (Christmas Eve) this year.

Our office is closed for two days whenever Christmas falls on a Tuesday or Thursday!

We will be closed but it is on the employees to take a day of vacation or since we are a government entity, comp time.

In past years the few people in my department who were here ended up going to a movie and leaving early. It's easier to just give the day off! Although we are open the 26th - 28th, we're closed on the 31st, and people are being encouraged to take the entire time off - 11 days off in a row by using 3 vacation days. The encouragement takes the form of no food services, limited IT support, receptionists, custodians, etc.

Our company gives 4 holidays around Christmas and New Years Days, so our employees get a full week off. This year we also gave December 31, so we are closed from close of business on Friday, December 21 through January 2, 2008. Unfortunately, as we are in the midst of multiple plan mergers, trust transitions, etc., I will be working at least some of the time, but I can probably do so remotely.

Christmas is the holiday, not Christmas Eve.

We are officially closed. I will have my payroll people come in for a short time to get what they can finished so they aren't pulling a 12 hour day Wednesday to finish payroll. I let them take another day off in place of Christmas and New Years eve and on the eve they only work until time cards are entered. Oddly they finish in three to four hours, the rest of the year it takes all day.

We will be closed on Christmas Eve. It is not a regular holiday for us but our holiday list allows for 1 floating holiday that is either assigned to a day like this year for Christmas Eve or left for the employee's choosing. Next year we won't be so lucky.

I've got my clients well trained - there is no reason to get year end testing done before year end - even if they know the year end numbers - yes I've had a 10,000 life case done by the 27th of December before. It took me two years before I won the argument with their CPA that the corrections didn't have to be done before 12/31. I think he broke down only because he didn't want to be working the last two weeks of December any more than I did.

I'll be a few thousand miles away from the office that day--WITHOUT my work laptop, thank you very much.

Have a Merry Christmas!

I work for the federal government - thanks to the President, we have off on a day that was going to be a vacation day for me.

Accountants? Last week of fiscal year? Duh. The powers that be changed fiscal year from Feb to Dec this year. Boy, are my staff unhappy!

This will be one of those quiet days when I can get a lot done. Besides, I'm Jewish, so it's not a big deal for me. (Though I will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with various Christian friends.)

We are very fortunate this year. While we will be open Christmas Eve (but only until 2 p.m.) we will then be given paid time off until January 2, 2007 (the equivalent of 3 additional paid days). Our company has been through a huge amount of change and stress this year, with many of us working long, long hours. This is management's way (along with a $130 grocery gift card) to say thanks. I'm very appreciative.

We are closed for Christmas Eve but open a 1/2 day on New Year's Eve. I tried to get the "powers" to see that it didn't make sense to heat the building for those 4 hours, but they wouldn't listen.

Taking the entire Christmas week off, and then December 31, too. Eleven uninterrupted days of work-free bliss, for just five days of Paid Time Off. --Karl S.

We are officially closed; and even if officially open, we would have been effectively closed. A lot like Thanksgiving Friday.

We will close through New Year's Day but many of us will appear now & then during the week.

Merry Christmas!

We will also close at 2:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve!

Sorry, I can't ever get the buttons to work on the survey page, but we are always closed Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. But we make up for it with Saturdays Jan 30 - April 15. We're a CPA firm that thinks the Financial Services branch needs to require those hours as well. Oh, well.

With no budget, it is nice to know at least one day off will be paid, at least until the continuing resolution is passed and the budget passes some time next year.

Office is closed week of Dec. 24.

We close at 1:00 CT

Ah, yes, gone are those cushy days when I worked for a non-profit and had a dozen paid holidays, including Christmas Eve, President's Day, and Columbus Day. Now, working for a financial services firm, our holidays revolve around the stock market holidays. But at least it will be deadly quiet around here, opening up the possibility of actually getting some work done without silly interruptions!

While we are "open" on December 26th (Boxing Day) many of my colleagues will be celebrating that day as well and be taking the day off (which makes for a 5 day weekend!) Happy Holidays to All

Christmas Eve is normally not a holiday day for us, but due to it falling on a Monday this year the company decided to just make it a holiday this year.

I always get the honor of being the only manager on the premises on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, so I have that to look forward to each year! (I've been here 9 years, but am still the new kid on the block...)

I work for a retailer. We'll be here to support the effort!

The office is closed, but there will be a few manning the fort in case someone must have a transaction that day. The company will also be closed on 12/31, again, except for a few who get that day off at some other time.

We are open on New Years Eve (also a Monday) but I took that day off along with the 26th. Thus, a two day work week followed by a three day work week. Then all H*** breaks loose as our busiest season begins.

It's great when a scheduled holiday falls on a weekday. For the past couple of years, we only had one of the two days off (same thing for New Years Eve and Day).

Christmas Eve day is one of our regular holidays.

We are a manufacturer -- our office personnel will be working on Christmas Eve but the productions staff will not -- they have to work the Saturday following Christmas however and some will have to come in on Christmas night.

We shutdown from Christmas Eve through New Years Day.

I'm surprised that they haven't decided to open on Christmas Day.

This is a floating holiday for us, so even though a skeleton staff has to work, they will get another day off.

We're a brokerage and I've always been told that if the stock market is open, so are we. However, that's a myth (or maybe an urban legend). If New York City is closed due to a snow storm, or a hurricane, we're still open. I wish the stock market would take a look at their holidays so I wouldn't have to use a full day's vacation after Thanksgiving or before Christmas, when the company usually closes early (but I still have to use a full day vacation).

We normally receive 1/2 day on Christmas Eve but since it falls on a Monday we are closed the entire day.

WE HAVE ALWAYS CLOSED CHRISTMAS EVE, ACTUALLY WE ARE CLOSED THE WHOLE WEEK BETWEEN CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS, WE HAVE TO TAKE VACATION TIME, BUT IT'S STILL NICE TO BE OFF FOR 11 DAYS.

The decision to close any office within our health system is the perogative of that office. Obviously the hospitals will be open 24/7! If an office does close "early" it probably won't be that early, maybe just an hour or two.

We're closed on New Year's Eve Day (12/31) also, as well as New Year's Day (of course), so by taking three vacation days (26th, 27th and 28th), I have 11 straight days out of the office!

NYSE is open

If the board of directors of my company thought they could make an extra dime by having us work on Sunday too--they'd do it!!

After years of working at a company doing business all day on Christmas Eve, I am happy this is my first year working for a company with the good sense to close on the 24th. I get to be off on the 31st as well getting 2 long weekends in a row. Yippy Skippy!!!

We are normally open on Christmas Eve but the bosses have given us an extra holiday. Chances are, they will be here for at least part of the day but the majority of the rest of us will not.

That darn stock market...it's open so we are...

We are also closed December 31st.

We are a manufacturing facility with a 3 shift operation. Christmas Eve is a traditional holiday for us, no matter where it falls.

We are using our floating holiday.

Being a Government office, of course we will be open!

Well, we're a hosptial so the hospital part is obviously open. However, office staff has Monday and Tuesday off. YAY! Nice change from when I worked for a financial institution.

I requested that day off. I severed my time working Black Friday instead

We offer 2 floating holidays for employees to use at their discretion, but we retain the right to assign one or both to specific days. This year and next year are the first years in over a decade that we've opted to do that. We've asigned one discretionary holiday to Christmas Eve in 2007 and in 2008 we've assigned one floater to the day after Christmas. We did this because normally 1/2 of our employee population are not allowed to take any time off after December 15th. This didn't alter the number of paid days off employees get. We are closing at noon on December 31 and paying employees for the entire day.

We have a shutdown week between the week of Christmas and into the new year but you can come in and work. I am planning to work a half day on Christmas Eve.

We are shut down on New Year's Eve too! Two four-day weekends in a row. If I could only figure out a way to do this for the next 50 weeks.

I am lucky enough to work for a company that closes for the entire Christmas week.

Not anticipating that much business will be conducted. Most people are either off or working remotely. Client contacts are essentially not available.

Those of us not taking a vacation day will come in and comiserate about having to come in and then we will all start to leave and the office will probably be empty by noon. Silly? YES!

Thankfully, when Christmas Eve falls on a Monday or Friday, we get it off. If it falls on a Thursday, we'll usually get it as well. No luck when it's a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

Even though we are closed, I'll be here!

Not only is it not open on Christmas Eve, it will closed on New Year's Eve day too (12/31). Although it is being counted as one of our very few holidays for 2008, which means we lose it some place else.

We are open 4 hours Christmas Eve (for no apparent reason), this is because - the powers that be hearts are like the "Grinch who stole Christmas"! All year it's tooooo small but miraculously on Christmas Eve it GROWS!!! Okay not a lot but I'll take the 4 free hours 🙂

I'll be bringing my daughter to work with me to help hand out the mince pies & then rushing home at lunchtime to start peeling potatoes & carrots!