Working over Christmas

[Chronicallyknackered]

I see so many posts about two weeks off at Christmas, how many people is this a reality for ? And how many people have to continue to work as usual ?
I work in a hospital, and feel fortunate that I don't work Christmas/ boxing day unlike clinical colleagues who have no choice. Our patients live with us 365days year, many without leave, so staff are needed as usual.
Family members have said they feel sorry for me working up until Christmas Eve, and after boxing day.
Is that not reality now that a lot of employers expect you to work over Christmas, not off to relax for a fortnight ?

I work for a bank in a contact centre and we are only closed on the bank holidays. As my dd is older I have decided to just have Christmas Eve off and work the rest. I’m only part time and this suits me fine. I’ve done the 10-14 days off at Xmas in the past and for me personally, it’s too long! I’d rather save my annual leave for warmer months

For many years, until recently I worked in hospitality. Had a great team so I didn’t mind, it was fun. Often opened presents on Christmas Eve at home when the kids were young. Now they’ve older and both are working on Christmas Day this year.

If you work in an industry where this might be expected then you know that when you accept the job, I worked with people who’d complain about it but they obviously knew when the took the job that it’d be necessary. What I did find hard in the end were the (in the minority) miserable guests. That was what made me switch to a job where I now have Christmas Day off.

I work in pharma and a lot of people finish tomorrow and we are officially back in full business on the 2nd.

I don't think many people have a fortnight off.

Schools do, but other than that, I can't think of many that do.

But I do think it has become much more common for more office type places to shut down between Christmas and New Year - particularly this year where otherwise it would be shut Wed and Thurs, then open Fri, then weekend, then open Mon, Tue, then shut Wed. People will often have to use AL for this though.
Obviously it is imperative that some places - as per your example, like hospitals - remain open, and sadly retail staff and leisure and hospitality staff are treated poorly regarding time off, but if you work somewhere that it isn't crucial to open, why would you ?

I work in the business side of a manufacturing company. We work Christmas Eve and are on shut down from Christmas Day back in 2nd Jan. Any of the working days during this period which aren't bank holidays (i.e. Fri 27th, Mon 30th, Tues 31st for this year) are deducted from my annual leave allowance, so they aren't 'free days off'. Dont get me wrong, I'm glad of the break and it works well as I have school aged children, but it isn't over and above annual leave entitlement youd get in an industry which didn't shut down.

I'm a dispatcher for the police, in the area control room and work shifts.

Last year I was off work in the run up to Christmas but started my 6 day shift pattern on Christmas day with a 9am-6pm then worked 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th & 30th and was off for the following 4 days over NY. This year, I finish a night shift at 7am Christmas morning so will sleep for part of Christmas day but will get most of it then off 26th-28th, starting my shift pattern again on 29th.

I had a job for years with a 2 week shutdown and I really miss that aspect of the job (nothing else though!).

When I worked in retail.i worked Christmas
Now I work a office based job I am off got Christmas and newyear

My company shuts down over Christmas so I'm off from Friday evening to 2nd January.

I have Boxing Day and 27th off but otherwise working as usual.

I'm off now and not back in work until January 6th...civil servant...

Exactly the same!!!!

I've got an office job and sort of chose this type of career for this reason (selfishly I know I'd be rubbish in a caring role)

I'm head of department now so will need to check emails daily and perhaps work but I'm not expecting much to come up. I'll ge off officially COB on 23rd until Jan 2nd

Office job. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and NYD off, everything else as normal

My husband is a vicar. He's doing the 8pm Christmas Eve service, the midnight Mass, the 10am Christmas morning service, then the homeless Christmas lunch, then visits all afternoon. Hopefully back by 6pm. We're having our Christmas day on the 24th! The children don't mind - they get their presents a day early

2 weeks definitely not.
I am self employed in agriculture/food production. We are heinously busy 7 days a week up to snd including the 24th, then off until probably the 31st.
Family in a good sized tradesman business are shutting down except for emergency call outs for 2 weeks. (Longer than usual but a thriving business)
I think most office jobs have a shut down?
But any kind of medical, care workers, emergency services, lots of retail and hospitality will get a couple days at most and will be staggered so might not be on the day.

I work in manufacturing (jewellery) we've been working longer hours and 6 or 7 day weeks (almost everyone is SE) since early December, but finishing on Friday. Most of the trade (as in workshops, studios, tool shops, assay offices etc) close over Christmas. Some people are in on Monday 23rd, most are back on 3rd or 6th Jan.

Community nurse.
Im working Christmas Day night shift, I don’t mind too much cos I get Christmas eve off and my kids are only little so I get the magic of Christmas morning and most of the day with them.
Im rota’d in for New Year’s Day as well.
We self rota over the festive period, full time staff have to do 2/5 of the key dates.
I had Christmas Day off last year so it’s only fair I work it this year.
Patients don’t take time off over Christmas. And of all the jobs I’ve ever had this one gives me tonnes of fulfilment, it’s a privilege to go into peoples homes and tend to their dying loved ones.

Mind you, wouldn’t mind two weeks shut down!

Yep totally agree with this. I'm office based and have been for a very long time, and usually book to have two full weeks off at Christmas, but it's all out of my holiday allocation.

Office job with no operational responsibilities. I’m off for two weeks, using annual leave for everything except the bank holidays.

I work for a health care charity. We are open for everything other than the bank holidays. I have taken annual leave from 23rd December - 3rd January. This is my first Christmas off since 2011 🥳

I'll be working next year. We're working a new rota system whereas before parents were taking priority. So thrilled to have this Christmas off and strangely looking forward to the post-Christmas annual leave on January 2026.

We get the standard bank holidays but I've booked all next week off and it's the first time I've done it. My mum works for NHS in a pharmacy and she's working Xmas even and off the 2 days too. I'm her previous NHS job she would work Xmas day. Not when we were young but once we hit teenage years she did to let others with younger kids get it off. X

I'm in Monday morning and then I'm off until Monday 30th. But that's only because I was lucky enough to book the 24th and 27th off before loads of other people did too. DH can't book time off over Christmas. He's off Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but that's it.

I work for a 24/7 answering service. I'm working Xmas Day, have 26th & 27th off and then working all weekend 28th & 29th. We've both had to work Xmas many times in various jobs, so we just move everything forward a day 😄

My company it very much depends on the team you are in and the role you have
My role could be off but within our team we need at least one person available to deal with queries should arise, I finish tomorrow and back in on the 30th to allow someone else a break over new year and I can cover their role, I have to use A/L for anything other bank holidays but it's a choice/negotiation if we want to be off
DH has a shut down between Xmas and new year so has to use 3 days leave even if he didn't want to.

We get the bank holidays plus annual leave so if you want more time off it comes out of AL, there’s no shutdown. But there’s no restriction on how many can be off, within reason, as it’s very quiet, it’s a good time to catch up with odd jobs. Where DH works they shutdown from Christmas Eve to the 2nd, so staff have to use 3 days AL, he is always surprised when he tries to meet friends and family over the holiday that a lot of them are at work as he thinks the shutdown is what most people do, I don’t think it is.