Sunday, November 25, 2007
It’s business as usual at many workplaces.
By MARIA PEROTIN
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
FORT WORTH, Texas — Forget the 12 days of Christmas. For many workers, the holiday break will last about 48 hours this year.
They’ll gulp their eggnog, unwrap all the gifts, and maybe sing a carol or two — all in time to be back at the office Dec. 26.
A full 42 percent of professionals are planning no vacations this holiday season other than their employers’ official breaks, according to a recent survey by the California-based staffing firm, OfficeTeam. And just a quarter of office workers expect to take off a week or longer.
Take Leslie Sisk.
The human resources director at Mother Parker’s Tea & Coffee used to take off a couple of days before every Christmas and then another few days after the holiday.
But this year, Sisk intends to spend time with her family when the Fort Worth company closes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
“I usually would take quite a bit of time off,” Sisk said. “I cannot do that and keep my head above water at the same time.”
Fort Worth estate planner Jeff Fraley plans to shut down his office for a couple of days around Christmas. And he’ll work a light schedule near year’s end.
But with so many clients wrapping up their end-of-year finances, Fraley said it’ll be mostly business as usual.
“We work with, primarily, professionals,” Fraley said. “Most of those people are there. Unless they have younger kids, and they may take off for a week.”
Few employees intend to take extra time off through New Year’s Day. Here are workers’ vacation plans as determined by an OfficeTeam survey of 493 full- and part-time office workers: 42 percent: no days; 17 percent, one to two days; 15 percent, three to four days; 13 percent, five to six days; 12 percent, seven or more days.