With twinkling lights, Christmas trees and festive cheer, it’s easy to forget that the festive period can be different for everyone and that for some, it’s a little more stressful than cheerful.
Do UK employees like the festive season?
To find out how employees feel about this typically merry time of year, we simply asked them “Do you like the festive season?”. 81.9% of survey participants answered with a resounding “Yes”, with only 7.9% of employees claiming that they don’t enjoy Christmas, and 10.2% giving an unconvincing “I don’t mind”.
The high percentage of people who enjoy the build-up to Christmas is a great sign for employers, with Christmas being an opportunity to capitalise on high morale and boost it further with things such as parties, quizzes, and food!
Perhaps not surprisingly, younger generations are more likely to have favourable views around Christmas, with progressively more negative or neutral opinions of the festive period as you go back generations.
Millennials tend to be the most enthusiastic about Christmas, with a staggering 90.8% approval rating, compared to the least enthusiastic, Baby Boomers, who gave a relatively lower Christmas approval rating of 58.6%.
Working over the festive season
With work taking up large portions of most people’s lives, it’s crucial to take a look at how employees feel specifically about working over the festive season. We asked a series of questions to determine the thoughts and feelings of employees who work over the Christmas period.
Firstly, we sought to determine if employees were able to take annual leave during the festive season, to which only 41.9% said they were able to take leave during all of this period, 36.4% responded that they weren’t able to take annual leave over this period, and 21.7% stated that they were allowed to take annual leave during some of this period.
Alongside this, 92% of employees said that they worked during the two weeks leading up to Christmas, with a generational divide meaning that as a millennial or Gen Z, you’d be over three times as likely to have to work the whole Christmas period when compared to Gen X.
It’s not all bad though, with 39.6% of employees reporting that working over the Christmas period results in financial gain, with pay increasing to compensate for the perhaps more unsociable hours.
For those able to take time off during this period, the most common number of days is 7 days, with 29.5% of respondents reporting this. Surprisingly, the second most common is only 1-3 days with 17.6% of those surveyed giving this answer, and no time off comes in as the third most common at 14.8% of respondents.
Festive season stress
As well as being a time of happiness and festivities, the Christmas period can be stressful, with many workplaces (50.2%) experiencing a peak in the run-up to Christmas.
Alongside a peak in business, there also seems to be a peak in stress, with 61.3% of respondents claiming that they find the weeks leading to Christmas stressful. This stress seems to decrease with age, possibly due to shifting responsibilities and seniority.
41.3% of baby boomers report that they still suffer with stress during the Christmas period, despite being the group who reported the least stress. The group who reported the most stress were millennials, with a staggering 71.1% of them reporting high stress in the run-up to Christmas.
Less than half (43.2%) of those who reported higher stress levels during this period feel adequately supported by their line manager.
This lack of support from line managers could be part of the reason why so many people – 66.2% of respondents – experience burnout during the later stages of the year. Again, there is a trend towards younger generations experiencing burnout at higher rates than generations such as Baby Boomers.
Our survey has found that 72.7% of Gen Z experience burnout at this time of year, compared to only 40.2%. This could be due to Baby Boomers being more likely to be semi-retired or in advisory roles than Gen Z, millennials, or Gen X.
The real-world impact of these burnouts is that 16.6% of respondents have handed in a notice near Christmas, and 23.5% have handed in a notice in the New Year, so employers might consider reducing stresses around this time to avoid tipping a disgruntled employee over the edge.
Festive activities at work
It’s not all doom and gloom, though, with lots to look forward to during this time of year, including Christmas parties and other exciting events.
From our survey, we discovered that most workplaces (67.6%) put on some form of event to celebrate the festive period and to reward staff for their work throughout the year. These events range from a party (24.3%), to secret Santa (22.9%), or activities like bowling, karaoke, or darts (15.6%). Having events like these serve as valuable morale boosters for employees who might be experiencing stress during this time of year.
These events usually result in a higher turnout from younger generations such as Gen Z and millennials, however, Baby Boomers report that their workplaces are less likely to have festive activities available in their workplace. This suggests that lack of opportunity is what’s leading to less engagement from older generations as opposed to lack of willingness to participate.
Out of the people who responded to our survey, 55% of them said that these events helped them to get into the Christmas spirit, with only 12.9% saying they don’t get them into the Christmas spirit and 31.1% stating that they don’t attend or don’t have the option to attend.
Another way to get into the Christmas spirit is to decorate the workplace, something that 67% of workplaces do. The remaining respondents reported that their office is either not decorated (19.3%) or they work remotely (13.6%).
Of those who reported that Christmas decorations were put up in their workplace, the majority (79.6%) found that it helped to lift their spirits and get them into a Christmassy mood. This demonstrates that even small acts like putting some tinsel around the office or putting a Christmas tree up can have a significant impact on the morale of team members, potentially resulting in higher output.
Whether it’s the generational divide or company culture, there are many factors that affect an employee’s enjoyment of Christmas. It’s important to carefully consider how stress levels can be reduced and morale boosted so that everyone can enjoy the festive period to some degree, making it a time for celebration rather than worrying.
