The boss’s nightmare can be the employee’s happiness – with only five vacation days, you can have a very long Christmas vacation

At the turn of the year as the holidays approach, many employees’ thoughts may already wander to the days off waiting at the end of December.

This year there is also a special reason for it. This time, Christmas and New Year’s holidays fall on weekdays in the middle of the week.

Christmas Eve is celebrated on Tuesday this year, so Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Wednesday and Thursday. Naturally, New Year’s Eve is also celebrated on Tuesday and New Year’s Day on Wednesday.

For the bosses responsible for shifts, the weekdays at the end of the year could have caused gray hair, but for the employees, the calendar is thus placed in a very comfortable position.

The work week the rhythm and days off vary depending on the workplace and profession, but at least for a person working a normal Monday-Friday work week, weekdays bring an opportunity for quite a bit of tactics.

In the best case scenario, the employee could basically be off from December 21 until Epiphany, using only five extra vacation days.

It is possible if Christmas and New Year’s Eve are basically days off at the workplace, even if they are not official holidays. In many collective agreements, however, New Year’s Eve is a working day, which means that at least six vacation days would be taken.

In this case, the extra vacation days should be used on Monday 23 December, Friday 27 December, Monday 30 December and Thursday and Friday 2-3 December. January.

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“In practice, there have always been many volunteers who, for one reason or another, want to do the holy work of Christmas.”

But how does the situation look at those workplaces that also have to have labor on holidays?

For example, in a retail store, doors cannot be bolted during Christmas holidays. Especially the days before Christmas are among the busiest seasons of the year in stores.

A shopkeeper at K-Citymarket in Tammisto, Vantaa Kimmo Sivonen says that Christmas and New Year’s holidays, which fall on weekdays, increase the amount of labor needed in the store.

However, the weekdays haven’t caused any extra hassle or problems, but the shift planning for the Christmas period, which was started well in the fall, has gone as usual.

“There weren’t as many shifts to offer as there were willing ones. It even works out that way, because saints have better extras,” Sivonen says.

According to Sivonen, many employees with families want to be on Christmas holidays, but additional labor for the shop is typically obtained from young part-timers who want to earn money during the Christmas holidays for, for example, spring studies.

“They are offered a little more work because full-time employees have more free time.”

Vantaa Director of Jumbo and Myyrmann’s Prisms Jari Kättö tells the same story. The shift planning for the Christmas holidays is handled by routine, and this year’s calendar has not caused any special extra work.

“In a warm agreement, you can express your wishes, whether you want to be free during the Christmas holidays. However, public holidays are quiet enough that you don’t need a large number of people to work. In practice, there have always been many volunteers who, for one reason or another, want to do the holy work of Christmas. You can easily find authors for these.”

However, according to Kätö, it is generally not possible to grant very long continuous Christmas holidays in the trade sector, because, for example, on the eve of December 23rd, “mostly everyone” is at work.

“From then on, we will be able to give time off, but not the kind of two-week Christmas holidays that some industries might have if work slows down a lot during the Christmas holidays.”

Editing 11/19/2024 at 4:50 p.m.: Information added to the story, according to which New Year’s Eve is a working day in several collective agreements.