to think that that employees with small dc huold have preference on having xmas eve off work?

[pippylongstockings]

I work in an office with over 15 employees - 4 of us have young DC ranging from 11 to 2 years old - Surely at christmas it is not being unreasonable to think that the minority of 4 could have Christmas Eve off work?

BUT No, it is done on a random lottery - why ?

Honestly, I feel christmas is for the children and working til 4pm on xmas eve is not a happy place to be if you have kids at home waiting for you.

i think your all lucky, dh has been told he has to work xmas eve,xmas day, boxing day,new years eve,new years day etc ds2 will be 2-3 weeks old and ds1 will be 3 :(

YABU

It's Christmas Eve!! Not even Christmas day or Boxing Day

I don't see the big deal of working Christmas Eve at all, it's a working day!

I am working the night shift Christmas Eve and won't be back till 8am Christmas Day. No big deal, it's what I do, and actually I feel lucky that after a little sleep I get to be at home all day with my family.

I do think though that shifts should be worked out on a rota system based on what people have done previous years, much fairer. Our manager puts out a blank rota and asks for requests. It then goes on from there. Works quite well IMO.

Nothing to do with who has children though, people without children still have families and want to enjoy christmas.

YABU.

Christmas Day, fair enough. Parents should get priority.

Christmas Eve is just another day. Seriously, if you still have shit to do then, you need to organise yourself!

YABU I'm afraid, when I was single and childless I had to work until the early evening of Christmas Eve and then get to my Mum's house 100 miles away by train afterwards. I was allowed to leave early enough to catch the last available train.

Now I have two small children and I'll be working Christmas Eve, can't have the day off as I will actually be quite busy as most of my suppliers/customers are out of the office between Christmas and New Year and I need things in place for after Christmas.

I do see where you are coming from, Christmas Eve is exciting for little children and it's a shame to have to miss out on some of it. However I don't think that means you're entitiled to Christmas Eve off.

sorry, Spooky. Wherever I have worked in pre-kid days, those of us without kids have generally speaking been happy to take the Christmas Day/Boxing Day shifts and let the parents have the time. However, that was choice, not imposed on us. So I can see in your case why you are cheesed off. It shouldn't be an assumption, no.

I write the xmas/new years eve rota at work. It is a completely separate 3 week rota to what we would usually work. All staff get the option of 4 days off over either period. Usually the parents ask for xmas off and the ones with no kids or older kids ask for New years off. Someone working over xmas will work 2pm xmas eve and finish xmas day at 2.30pm - they will be back in on boxing day at 2pm for the same 24 hour shift. THAT is working xmas eve ...not working till 4pm.
I dont like the idea of a lottery type style though.

When I was single and childless if I had to work Xmas it meant I had to have Xmas alone as I lived on my own and my family lived three hours away

now I too finish at 4pm and dh and kids pick me up and I'm with my family

Do you know how soul destroying it is spending Xmas alone?

I used to work for a lovely company that had to open on Christmas Eve until the last minute. We were given the option to volunteer and those of us wihtout children (at the time for me obv) almost always filled the cover. To sweeten the deal, all of the office presents - bottles and chocolates and hampers that the clients sent in - were saved until Christmas eve and divided, with those of us working having first pick. That was the perk - that and doing very little work all day. It worked really well.

YABU without a doubt. Everyone should take turns. Where I work we decide whoever works Boxing Day gets new years day off and vice versa. Works well for us. Think yourself lucky that if you are working that day you finish at 4pm. Where I work, everyone has to do aleast a 4 hour shift on christmas eve, no excuses and some work til 8 or 9pm.

Lol Custardo

Sorry but YABU. A lottery is definitely the fairest way. I worked to 11pm last Christmas Eve. Some of my colleagues had it even worse, starting then and finishing at 8am on Christmas morning when a 3rd colleague took over.

I know of other people who have been forced into working Christmas day and New Years day so that someone else can have both off. Knowing about all these situations I definitely prefer the lottery option and would definitely not mind working until 4pm. Plenty of time to get home before bedtime.

My ex-place of work (emergency services) had a "system" where people who had dc under the age of 5 were given priority as to who had time off 1st.

it was written into the contract that those without small dc were expected to cover the shifts over xmas and any other bank holiday. on paper, sounds ok, but as my colleagues kept on pro-creating, muggins old infertile me ended up working xmas eve, xmas day, boxing day and new years day for 7 years in a row!

i was minted (triple time) but bloody miserable.the trouble with asking for volunteers is that with small dc, you prob wont volunteer, which does put pressure on those without!

I'll be working until 10pm on Christmas Eve. Not looking gorward to it as my DC are 4 and 5 and are just at the perfect age for getting excited over Santa

Well, I am one of only two people at work who have small children, out of a team of about 12.

I do not get Christmas eve off, or get to be on the early shift even just because I have children. Why would I? what would I need to do on Christmas Eve that requires me at home so early anyway!

We either get an early shift on Christmas Eve, or NYE. We are then free to swap amongst ourselves if we wish too. And if we are on the late shift we have to work till 8 pm. I think I have it nice at work. I would not mind working till 8pm either day tbh..there are people who have it a lot worse!

And, with annual leave over Christmas, that is taken in turns, if someone had last year booked any annual leave over the Christmas period, they would be last in line this year.

YABVU!!!!!

For you Xmas eve is about your kids,

for some it's about getting hammered

For some it's an extra day off over the holiday period.

Why should your priorities take priority over other people's?

i heart custardo

Crikey, I think the poor OP's got the message!

I'm glad the majority on here have told the OP how unreasonable her opinion is.

It's the sort of working mother attitude that totally pisses me off.

the way that i see it is that I know that on xmas day I will see my child at some point and not be alone. So I am happy to work in place of someone who is childless and single as they may have to travel to see their family and if they dont get xmas off they may spend it alone.

yabvu