Survey Reveals The Exact Day Workers Stop Trying & Start Saying ‘That Can Wait Until Next Year’
Pixel-Shot | Shutterstock If you’re finding yourself struggling to keep your spirits and productivity up at work, you’re definitely not alone. While it’s a well-known fact that workers have a hard time keeping up during the holiday season, Talker Research decided to conduct a survey and put some actual numbers to how difficult it is to keep going instead of just saying they’ll put tasks off until the new year.
We’re down to the final stretch of the year, that time between Christmas and New Year’s when no one really knows what to do with themselves. With memories of time in school when you got this entire chunk of time off to do whatever your heart desired, it can be hard to lock in and focus on the final days of work before the new year begins.
Apparently, employees pretty much give up on work for the year on December 15.
Talker Research surveyed 1,117 American workers to determine their attitudes towards work at the end of the year. One of the questions asked was what date in December it becomes acceptable to become a little more relaxed with work assignments. The average date participants gave was December 15, meaning everyone is pretty much giving up halfway through the last month of the year.
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Although that was the average date the survey could pin down, the most often mentioned date was December 24, Christmas Eve. 11% of workers surveyed actually said that “work should only ease up from Christmas Eve onwards.” Interestingly, 35% of employees actually said that it’s never OK to let your guard down at work and put things off for the next year.
Still, 47% of workers said they really hoped things would slow down at work for what is left of the year. And, the phrase “that can wait until next year” has been uttered by the average worker 16 times by now.
The holiday season is a stressful time of year, which can make it hard to focus on work.
A 2023 poll from the American Psychological Association (APA) found that 89% of Americans were feeling stressed during the holiday season. 49% said their stress levels were “moderate,” and 41% said their stress was more intense at this time of year than at other times.
The CEO of the APA, Arthur C. Evans Jr., said, “The holiday season can be both a happy and stressful time of year in part due to expectations to spend time with family and friends, navigate family conflicts, and uphold important traditions.” If someone is experiencing stress that severe, it only makes sense that it would throw off their performance at work.
While it’s easy for employers to get frustrated with a lack of employee engagement during the holidays, showing some understanding can go a long way.
James Robbins, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Employer Branding News, told Talker Research that it’s completely normal for workers to check out mentally at the end of the year. “It’s not that people are being lazy; it’s that their brains have reached a level of cognitive fatigue from having pushed decision-making for 11 months, which is why they’re looking for a natural break in their workflow,” he said.
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Robbins explained that it’s best for employers to embrace this instead of fighting it. “When teams are at this point in the year (Q4) at work, it is normal to slow down and sometimes even healthy if the team leader acknowledges that slowdown,” he added.
You can’t necessarily give up on work altogether during the holidays as you await the new year, but it is important to give yourself some grace and remember that it’s especially difficult to get work done during this time of year. If your productivity slows down a little, it’s not the end of the world. Chances are, your boss is feeling the same way.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
