The office can be a good place to be in the days between Christmas and New Year’s. Photo: Stígur Már Karlsson /Heimsmyndir.
All my life, I’ve worked for organisations that shut down between Christmas and New Year’s and forced me to take my scarce annual leave.
This is highly unfair. For some, going to the office during the most tedious time of the year provides much-needed respite from holiday season torture. All employees should have the option of staying on the clock if that’s what they want.
I’m now fortunate enough to work for a wonderful employer – Region. Although our company has an annual shutdown, last year, I asked my boss if I could keep pumping out articles during this time and she was happy to oblige.
This saved me from those seven long days which are the worst possible time to take a holiday. It’s oppressively hot, everything is shut, the streets are overrun with bored teenagers and accommodation prices are through the roof. There’s no better time to escape to the confines of an air-conditioned cubicle.
Late December is also the period when relatives feel the need to visit or oblige you to see them. That’s where not being on holiday works to one’s advantage.
“Darling, I’d love to take my mother-in-law to see Old Parliament House but, damn, I have to work.”
There’s a sizeable minority of us who don’t buy into the festive cheer and see Christmas Day as the most boring day of the year. Twelve hours of overeating and small talk with no sport on TV to break it up.
Boxing Day is a little better as at least restaurants are open and the cricket is back on. But after that, I’m so exhausted that I need to be able to relax by going back to work.
In the past, I was employed by various public service departments that closed their doors between Christmas and New Year’s. On the rare occasions I was able to come to the office, I experienced bliss.
The office was near empty so I could get things done without constant interruptions. I did all those tasks that I usually don’t have time to do – responding to emails, filing unfilled paperwork and reloading both my staplers. I also got to be the first in my team to apply for leave the Monday after Australia Day. It was the highlight of an otherwise forgettable public service career.
The following year, I was employed by another bureaucracy that made me take my annual leave during that period. I’d wanted to take my holidays in June to go to Queensland and escape the Canberra cold. But I wasn’t allowed to because the end of the financial year was our busiest period when we were all forced to slog it out every night until the wee hours of 5:45 pm.
This is where it’s all so unjust. Surely employers shouldn’t be allowed to both prevent us from taking leave and also force us to take holidays just because it’s convenient for them.
For more than a century, workers and unions have fought for rights such as sick leave, annual leave and long service leave. It’s now time for the labour movement to make waves on a neglected aspect of employee entitlements – the right NOT to take holidays during the worst time to take them.
Original Article published by Oliver Jacques on Riotact.
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