thankful for balance ⚖️

how to navigate work and holiday cheer in your workplace

November 26, 2024

In partnership with

Hope you’re all having a great Tuesday!

🧠Staying on the Thanksgiving/Holiday theme from yesterday, today’s HR brain boosting topic is finding the holiday balance between celebrating, and finishing the year strong.

We know that not all our readers will celebrate Thanksgiving, but every workplace could benefit from a slightly improved work-life balance right?

In Today’s Edition

⚖️ Finding Balance in the Holiday Chaos


🛋️ The Break Room: How do you REALLY feel about enforcing work-life boundaries during the holidays?


📚 Human Readsources: AI making hiring process worse, not better, Spotify maintains commitment to remote work flexibility, Gig economy and hybrid work affect relocation.


20 working days to December 25th?! Eek.

Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office

While everyone else is planning their holiday parties and PTO, a lot of us are feeling the pressure in HR.


We're juggling time-off requests, skeleton schedules, and that one manager who keeps asking if the office can "just close for two weeks."


Deep breaths, HR fam. We've got your back with practical tips to keep both your sanity and your workplace running smoothly this season.


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Finding the balance between celebrating a good year and finishing strong

I’m sure you’ve seen this tweet doing the rounds 🤣


So back to the holidays. How do we manage the holiday season without losing our minds (or our top talent)? It's that magical time when productivity takes a nosedive, everyone wants the same days off, and we're somehow expected to keep business running as usual.


The struggle is real, and sometimes all the planning and SOPs in the world can't prepare us for just having less people available.


It's probably not surprising that studies show that 61% of employees experience decreased productivity during the holiday season, and honestly, can we blame them? Between shopping for gifts, planning family gatherings, and trying to use up those remaining PTO days, our teams are stretched thin.


But there's a silver lining to this tinsel-covered cloud.


The secret weapon? Flexibility.


Offering options like remote work days, flexible hours, or even compressed workweeks during the holiday season isn't just nice - it's strategic. Companies that embrace this approach see better engagement and fewer surprise call-outs.


Plus, when you throw in some creative perks (like those travel vouchers instead of cash bonuses we've been hearing about), you're not just managing the holiday chaos - you're turning it into a retention tool. So come January, the workforce is refreshed, appreciative and ready for a new year!



🔗 Relevant links

👀 TLDR

Holiday season hits productivity hard (61% drop!) and many of us have just 20-ish working days left of the year. Embrace flexibility through remote work (where possible), adjusted schedules, and strategic perks like travel vouchers. It's not just about surviving December - it's about turning holiday chaos into a retention win. 🦃🎄

⚡ Takeaway and Try

  1. 📋 Survey your team this week (when their not browsing for Black Friday deals) about their ideal holiday work arrangement - would they prefer longer days with extra days off, or shorter days spread across more weeks?

  2. 🗓 ️ Create a shared calendar where teams can transparently mark their "must-have" holiday days off, helping everyone visualize coverage gaps early

  3. 🏠 Test a hybrid holiday schedule with one department - let them work remotely on Mondays and Fridays in December to see how it impacts both productivity and morale

  4. 🎁 Replace one traditional cash bonus with a January travel voucher (when prices are lower) and track how many employees take advantage of it. This also helps spread vacation time more evenly throughout the year.

  5. ⏰ Start a "core hours" pilot where everyone must be available 10am-2pm, but can flex the rest of their schedule around holiday commitments (basting turkeys, enduring holiday plays, hiding from inlaws etc).


📚 Human Readsources

🏢 AI Making Job Hunting Worse, Not Better (The HR Digest) - AI complicates hiring process, worsening job search for applicants.


⚖️ Spotify Doubles Down on Remote Work, Defies Return Trend (The HR Digest) - Spotify maintains remote work policy, sees benefits in flexibility and retention.


📊 Gig Economy and Hybrid Work Reshape Relocation Trends (HRO Today) - Gig economy and hybrid work reshape employee relocation trends.


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Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas!

We know you’re super busy and really appreciate the little corner of your inbox you let us into 3 times a week. 😀

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