The holiday season is often portrayed as a time of joy, celebration, and connection, but for many employees, it can feel like one of the most overwhelming periods of the year. Between festive gatherings, family responsibilities, travel, financial pressures, and year-end work expectations, employees can find themselves stretched thin. Working through the holidays is a challenge that blends personal demands with professional ones, making it difficult for individuals to fully enjoy the season or feel present in either area of their lives.
While some expect business operations to slow down in December, the reality is often the opposite. Companies rush to meet year-end goals, finalize budgets, complete performance reviews, and prepare for the upcoming year. At the same time, teams may be short-staffed due to vacations or personal leave. The result? A perfect storm of competing priorities that can leave employees feeling stressed, guilty, or out of control.
In this article, we’ll explore the pressures that come with working through the holidays, how employees can better manage the season’s demands, and what employers can do to support their teams during this chaotic time.
The Seasonal Double Load: Work Doesn’t Stop, and Life Speeds Up
During the holidays, responsibilities outside the workplace multiply. There are family visits to plan, school events or childcare gaps to navigate, holiday shopping to complete, meals to prepare, and financial considerations to manage. Many employees want to be fully present for their families—emotionally, mentally, and physically—but may struggle to do so when work continues to demand their attention.
From year-end deadlines to mandatory planning meetings, the workplace can stay just as fast-paced as any other time of year. For organizations on a fiscal calendar, December often marks the final push, which means increased reporting, analysis, and decision-making. Customer-facing roles can become even busier as holiday demand spikes. Even internal teams feel the strain as they try to coordinate work around colleagues’ time off.
This combination of heightened personal expectations and unrelenting professional ones can take a toll. Employees may experience:
- Stress and burnout
- Guilt for not being fully available at home
- Anxiety about missing deadlines or falling behind
- Difficulty focusing due to mental overload
- A sense of being “everywhere and nowhere” at the same time
Working through the holidays often becomes a juggling act with no clear boundaries, pushing many employees to stretch themselves further than they sustainably can.
The Emotional Weight of Holiday Expectations
It’s not just the tasks that add pressure—it’s the emotional expectations that come with the holiday season. People often feel compelled to create a memorable experience for their families or meet social expectations, all while maintaining high performance at work.
For many, the holidays can also trigger financial worry, family tension, grief for lost loved ones, or feelings of loneliness. Adding these layered emotions to already demanding schedules can make the season feel more draining than joyful.
Furthermore, a 2023 study by the American Psychological Association found 89% of US adults feel stressed during the holiday season, with 41% of those reporting that the holiday season was more stressful than other times of the year.
And when employees expect the workplace to ease up but find themselves busier than ever, the disconnect can amplify stress. Instead of enjoying the holidays, they may be counting down the days until it’s over.
How Employees Can Manage Stress While Working Through the Holidays
While employees may not be able to control the season’s demands, they can take steps to navigate the pressure with more clarity and balance.
1. Prioritize and Plan Wisely
Not everything needs to be done at once—or at all. Employees can benefit from identifying the tasks that matter most, both at work and at home, and intentionally setting aside lower-priority items. Visual planning tools, simple checklists, or shared family calendars can create structure and reduce last-minute scrambling.
2. Set Clear Boundaries
The line between work and personal life becomes even more blurry during the holidays. Employees can protect their time—and their well-being—by setting clear boundaries around working hours, availability, and expectations with both teams and family members. Even small boundaries, like designating unplugged time during family events, can make a meaningful difference.
3. Communicate Early and Often
If employees know they’ll need time off or have personal commitments, proactive communication helps teams plan ahead and reduces stress for everyone. Transparency also allows managers to redistribute tasks or adjust priority levels.
4. Practice Mindfulness and Presence
Being physically present while mentally worrying about a task list can rob the joy from holiday moments. Mindfulness techniques—like grounding exercises, short breaks, or focused breathing—can help employees stay centered and reduce anxiety. Even a few minutes a day can shift emotional energy in a positive direction.
5. Adjust Expectations and Release Perfectionism
The holidays often come with pressure to do everything perfectly: the perfect gifts, the perfect meals, the perfect year-end performance at work. But perfectionism can drain energy and joy. Giving oneself permission to simplify plans, ask for help, or scale back expectations can make the season more manageable and more enjoyable.
How Employers Can Support Employees Working Through the Holidays
Organizations play a critical role in helping employees navigate the holiday season with more balance, compassion, and well-being. By acknowledging the seasonal strain and offering thoughtful support, companies can build trust, morale, and a culture of care.
1. Plan Ahead and Set Realistic Expectations
Managers can set the tone by planning for staffing gaps early, clarifying priorities, and reducing unnecessary year-end meetings. When employees have a clearer picture of what truly needs to be accomplished, they can make better decisions about their time.
2. Normalize Flexibility
Flexible work hours, remote work options, and the ability for employees to shift their schedules can make a significant difference. Flexibility shouldn’t feel like a privilege reserved for a few—it should be a standard, especially during high-demand seasons.
3. Encourage Time Off and Protect It
If the organization offers paid time off during the holidays, leadership should actively encourage employees to use it without guilt. Even more importantly, managers should respect time off by not contacting employees unless absolutely necessary.
4. Provide Mental Health Resources
Employee assistance programs, wellness apps, counseling access, or mental health days can be powerful tools during emotionally heavy seasons. Regular reminders about available resources ensure employees know where to turn if they feel overwhelmed.
5. Check In With Empathy
A supportive conversation from a manager can change how an employee experiences the season. Leaders who ask about workloads, personal stressors, or upcoming schedule conflicts signal that well-being matters. These conversations don’t have to be long—they just need to be genuine.
6. Lead by Example
If leaders send late-night emails, show constant availability, or avoid taking time off, employees may feel pressured to do the same. When managers model healthy boundaries and balanced behavior, it gives employees permission to follow suit.
For more ideas on how to support employee well-being, be sure to check out our article on The Future of Employee Well-Being: Where Wellness in the Workplace Means Being Your Best Self.
Finding Meaning and Balance During a Chaotic Season
While working through the holidays will likely always come with challenges, it doesn’t have to come at the cost of well-being. Employees can take small but impactful steps to manage their time, protect their mental health, and stay grounded. Employers can reduce the pressure by embracing flexibility, empathy, and thoughtful planning.
When individuals and organizations work together to create balance, the holiday season becomes less about rushing through obligations and more about connection, reflection, and meaningful rest. And that’s something worth giving—and receiving.
To help you stay organized and find some breathing room this season, I’ve created a free Holiday Planner Spreadsheet that you can download and use right away.
Download it below and make Working Through the Holidays just a little bit easier.
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