Workers feel the strain as holiday business lags

DETROIT -- With many auto companies and suppliers closed for the holidays, business slows to a trickle for mover Don Rauch, a director at Corrigan Movers in Farmington Hills, Mich.

"It's a challenge . . . and it's boring," Rauch said. "This is the time to catch up on paperwork. There are some companies that are still working that are not auto-related."

For the most part, it's a time to get the house in order, Rauch said.

Rauch's predicament is one confronting many businesses this time of year. For many who have to show up for work, hours are spent bored or frustrated because those they need to do business with are on vacation. Additionally, the lack of working employees puts extra strain on those who aren't on vacation, which can lead to mistakes on the job.

A three-year survey of work trends at business-to-business workplaces during the months of December and January by the Arlington-Mass.-based tech company Glance Networks showed that employee productivity begins to fall two weeks before Christmas and does not return to normal until the third Tuesday in January.

The Southfield, Mich.-based American Society of Employers surveyed its 200 members this year and found a large contingent will shut down for the holidays.

Only 1 percent of those surveyed will be open for Christmas, 24 percent will be open the day after Christmas, 43 percent will be open Wednesday and Thursday, and 33 percent will be open Friday, said ASE spokesman Joe Desantis.

There is little companies can do about the plummeting productivity except anticipate it and manage it the best they can, said David Cassar, with the human resources consulting firm Capital H Group in Troy, Mich.

"Some companies we work with have decided to shut down," Cassar said. "They know people won't be working at 100 percent and it helps create more good will between them and the employees."

If your company doesn't shut down, managers and employees should prepare for the slowdown.

"Tell people that you know they're busy and ask what we need to do to accommodate them," Cassar said. "Manage downtime and allow flextime hours so people can get shopping done. Offer extended lunch periods and do creative things with half days and adding swing shifts"

Ken Seigel, an industrial psychologist and president of the Impact Group in Los Angeles, says the lack of productivity during the holidays isn't a bad thing.

"It's not that they're distracted; it's that they're disinterested," Seigel said. "I think that's a healthy response."

Work has become so consuming, Seigel said, that he encourages people to make work a second priority during November and December.

"Life has become so out of balance," he said. "This is the only time where you typically can have two to three legitimate holiday days off -- Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's."

At the same time, people are under pressure to meet year-end goals this time of year, he adds.

"There are year-end closings with financial guys, people are trying to meet production goals. In many ways, there is greater intensity in November and December even though there's a push to live a more balanced life."