How to Protect Your Time Off and Energy at Work in December
- Almost all UK workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for a five-day week, and employers may count bank holidays within that total.
- US federal law does not require payment for time not worked, including vacations and holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, so paid leave depends on the employer.
- In a Pew Research Center survey of 5,188 US workers, 46% of those with paid time off took less than they were offered, and 49% of that group said they worried about falling behind.
- In the UK the general notice for booking leave is twice the length of the leave plus one day, and an employer can require staff to take leave over a Christmas shutdown.
- A December with two bank holidays and three days of leave has about a fifth fewer working days than an ordinary month, so the workload needs cutting by about the same amount.
December asks for a full month of output in roughly three weeks, then adds a second, unpaid job in the evenings: presents, travel, school plays, the office party, relatives. In the US the squeeze starts a month earlier, at Thanksgiving. Nothing about this is mysterious, and most of it can be planned for in November.
This guide covers the working side of the season: what leave you are owed, how to book it, how to cut the workload to fit the days, and what to put in the out-of-office. For the phone side of things, see our guide to a digital detox in December.
Why does December feel impossible at work?
Because the sums do not work and nobody says so. Take a UK office worker in a December with 23 weekdays. Christmas Day and Boxing Day are bank holidays, which leaves 21.
Three days of leave between Christmas and New Year leaves 18. Half a day goes to the office lunch and another half to the school carol concert, so call it 17.
An ordinary month has about 21 working days. Seventeen is a fifth fewer, yet the December task list is usually longer than November's, because "before Christmas" is the deadline everyone reaches for. A US worker who takes the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week has the same problem in late November, then again four weeks later.
So the first step is arithmetic. Count your own working days between now and your last day, and treat that number as the size of the month.
What time off are you entitled to over the holidays?
This is the biggest difference between the two countries. The UK sets a legal minimum of paid leave. The US leaves it to employers.
| UK | US (federal) | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum paid leave | 5.6 weeks a year: 28 days for a five-day week, 16.8 days for a three-day week | None. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked |
| Public holidays | Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and employers can count them within the 5.6 weeks | Federal holidays are set in law for federal employees. Private employers decide their own |
| Christmas shutdown | An employer can tell staff to take leave then, with notice of at least twice the length of the leave | A matter for the employer's policy or your contract |
| Where to check | Your contract, then GOV.UK or Acas | Your employee handbook, then your state labor department |
The UK rules are set out on GOV.UK's holiday entitlement pages. The US position is stated plainly by the Department of Labor: the Act does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays, and such benefits are a matter of agreement between employer and employee.
The federal holiday list is set in law for federal employees, and private employers are not bound by it.
In practice most full-time US staff do get some paid leave, but access is uneven. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in March 2025, 91% of private-sector workers at establishments with 500 or more staff had paid vacation, against 71% at those with fewer than 50. In leisure and hospitality the figure was 46%.
Having leave and taking it are separate matters. In a Pew Research Center survey of 5,188 US workers in February 2023, 46% of those with paid time off said they took less than they were offered. Of that group, 49% worried about falling behind and 43% felt bad about colleagues picking up their work.
When should you book Christmas leave?
Earlier than feels polite. In the UK the general notice period is at least twice the length of the leave plus one day, so five days off needs eleven days' notice unless your contract says otherwise.
An employer can refuse or cancel leave by giving notice equal to the leave requested plus one day. They cannot stop you taking the leave at all.
The end of the leave year matters too. If yours ends on 31 December, check how many days you have left by mid-November, and ask in writing what carries over. Days that vanish on New Year's Eve are an expensive thing to find out about on 20 December.
In the US, where there is no statutory floor, the handbook is the rulebook. Check whether unused days roll over, whether there is a blackout period for your team, and how requests are ranked when several people want the same week. Put the request in by email and keep the reply.
How do you plan the December workload?
With a list, a pen and a willingness to disappoint someone in November instead of in the third week of December. Sort everything you are expected to deliver before your last day into three columns.
Must
Things with a real external deadline or a real cost if late: payroll, year-end accounts, a client launch, a legal filing. Be strict. "My manager would like it" is a could until your manager says otherwise.
Could
Useful work with no hard date. These get done only if a must finishes early. Tell the people waiting which column they are in, and give them a January date.
January
Anything new, anything that needs four people in a room, and anything that starts with "quick". New projects begun on 12 December are restarted on 8 January anyway, so nothing is lost by saying so.
Then check the musts against your day count. If the musts alone need 20 days and you have 17, that is a conversation to have with your manager this week, with the list in hand. The useful sentence is: "I have 17 working days and 20 days of must-do work. Which three days' worth should move?"
What should happen each week of December?
The plan below assumes leave from about 23 December to 2 January. Shift it to suit your dates. US readers can start it a week earlier, with Thanksgiving as week zero.
| When | At work | Outside work |
|---|---|---|
| Mid to late November | Confirm leave in writing. Check carry-over rules. Count your working days | Decide the maximum number of evening events for the month and write it down. Four is plenty for most people |
| Thanksgiving week (US) | Treat Wednesday as the deadline. Nothing new starts on the Monday after | Agree travel and hosting jobs by name, so that one person is not doing all of it |
| Week 1 (1 to 7 December) | Do the must, could, January sort. Send January dates to everyone in the could column | Order anything that needs delivery. Block one weekend with nothing in it |
| Week 2 (8 to 14 December) | Heaviest working week. No new commitments. Decline or shorten meetings without an agenda | Two events at most. Finish shopping if you can |
| Week 3 (15 to 21 December) | Finish the musts. Write handover notes by Wednesday and walk your cover through them on Thursday | The empty weekend goes here if it has not happened yet |
| Last days (22 to 24 December) | Out-of-office on. Work email off the phone. Write a one-page "start here" note for your January self | Nothing that needs a list |
| First week of January | First day back is for reading and sorting only. No meetings before 11am if you can arrange it | Keep evenings free. It is a working week after a long break |
How do you write an out-of-office that holds?
An out-of-office fails when it leaves the sender with a reason to try your mobile. It needs four things: the date you are back, a statement that you are not reading email, a named person for anything urgent, and a definition of urgent. For example:
"I am on leave until Monday 5 January and am not checking email. For anything affecting this week's payroll, contact Sam Patel on 020 7946 0000. Everything else will get a reply in the week I return."
There is research behind being firm about it. Organisational psychologist Sabine Sonnentag's review of studies on psychological detachment found that employees who mentally disconnect from work in their time off report higher life satisfaction and fewer symptoms of strain, without being less engaged when at work. Reading email "just to keep on top of it" is the opposite of detachment.
A handover makes the out-of-office believable. One page is enough: what is live, where the files are, who the contacts are, what can wait, and what would justify a phone call to you. If the true answer to the last one is "nothing", write that.
How do you say no in December?
Briefly, and with a date attached where you can. People take a no far better than a late yes. A few forms of words that work:
- For a new piece of work: "I can't fit that in before the break. I can start it on 8 January and have it to you by the 19th."
- For scope creep: "If this goes in, the supplier report comes out. Which would you rather have by the 20th?"
- For a meeting: "I can do 25 minutes on Tuesday. Could you send the two decisions you need beforehand?"
- For a social invitation: "Thank you, I can't make that one. Are you free for lunch in the second week of January?"
- For family: "We can come on Boxing Day from 12 until 4."
None of these includes an apology or an explanation, and none needs one. If you have set an events cap in November, the social no gets easier, because the decision was made weeks ago by a calmer version of you.
What if you are working over the holidays?
Millions do: nurses, carers, shop and warehouse staff, chefs, drivers, police. In the UK there is no automatic legal right to bank holidays off or to extra pay for working them. Both depend on your contract. In the US it is the same, and the Department of Labor is clear that holiday pay is a matter between employer and employee.
If that is your December, the planning shifts. Find out the rota as early as you can, swap shifts in writing, and schedule your own day off afterwards with the same seriousness as Christmas itself. A proper day on 28 December or 3 January beats a snatched half-day on the 25th.
If the season is hard for other reasons
December can sharpen grief, loneliness and money worries. If low mood or anxiety lasts most days for more than two weeks, speak to a GP or NHS 111 in the UK, or your doctor in the US.
Samaritans answer on 116 123 at any hour in the UK, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline takes calls and texts in the US. In an emergency call 999 or 911.
How do you come back in January?
Slowly on day one, and with the note you left yourself. Read the "start here" page, sort the inbox by sender instead of by date, and answer nothing until you have seen all of it. Most of what arrived on 23 December has been resolved by someone else or stopped mattering.
Then look at what December taught you. If the must column was too long for the days available, that was a planning problem and it will recur. Our guide to being productive without burning out has a ten-minute sum for working out what an ordinary week can hold.
Questions readers ask
Can my employer make me use holiday over Christmas?
In the UK, yes. GOV.UK states that employers can tell staff to take leave, for example on bank holidays or at Christmas, provided they give notice of at least twice the length of the leave. In the US it depends on the employer's policy and any contract, because federal law does not regulate vacation.
Check your contract for shutdown dates before booking other leave.
Can my employer refuse my Christmas leave request?
In the UK an employer can refuse leave at a particular time if they give notice at least as long as the leave requested plus one day, but they cannot refuse to let you take your leave at all. In the US there is no federal right to the time off, so the handbook and your manager decide.
Do I get paid extra for working Christmas Day?
Only if your contract or employer's policy says so. UK law gives no automatic right to extra pay or a day off on a bank holiday. US federal law does not require holiday pay either, although hours over 40 in a workweek still count for overtime for covered employees.
Should I check email while on leave?
If you can avoid it, avoid it. Studies of psychological detachment link switching off from work in free time with lower strain and higher life satisfaction. If your job truly needs a check, fix one 15-minute slot, tell your cover when it is, and keep the app off your phone the rest of the time.
Sources
- GOV.UK. Holiday entitlement; Booking time off. Checked 21 September 2026.
- GOV.UK. UK bank holidays. Checked 21 September 2026.
- US Department of Labor. Holiday pay; Vacation leave. Checked 21 September 2026.
- US Office of Personnel Management. Federal holidays. Checked 21 September 2026.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Paid vacations factsheet. Data for March 2025.
- Pew Research Center. More than 4 in 10 U.S. workers don't take all their paid time off. 10 August 2023. Survey of 5,188 workers, 6 to 12 February 2023.
- Sonnentag S. Psychological detachment from work during leisure time: the benefits of mentally disengaging from work. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2012;21(2):114–118.
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