The Debate: Should annual leave be enforced at Christmas? |
Should it be mandatory to take annual leave at Christmas? We put two office workers head to head in this week’s Debate
YES: A full shutdown removes ambiguity, giving everyone permission to disconnect guilt-free
The period between Christmas and New Year sits in a peculiar corporate twilight zone. For businesses that allow holiday during this time, it often becomes a week of professional panto: a skeleton crew navigating out-of-office replies, nudging tasks into frustrating holding patterns until normal service resumes in January.
At Holmes Noble, we introduced a mandatory Christmas shutdown several years ago, with consistently strong results. The executive search market is typically quieter over the festive period, and our team returns genuinely recharged, focused, energised and ready to deal with the inevitable deluge of emails and the pace of a busy Q1.
That said, a successful shutdown doesn’t happen by accident. It requires discipline in the preceding week: clear boundaries, thoughtful preparation and, above all, trust in your team to step away fully.
Partial closures create only the illusion of productivity. Those who stay “on” make limited progress, while those on leave remain mentally tethered to their inboxes. A full shutdown removes this ambiguity entirely, giving everyone permission to disconnect without the........