With many auto companies and suppliers closed for the holidays, business slows to a trickle for mover Don Rauch, a director at Corrigan Movers in Farmington Hills, Mich.
"It's a challenge . . . and it's boring," Rauch said. "This is the time to catch up on paperwork."
This predicament confronts many businesses at this time of year. For many who have to show up for work, hours are spent bored or frustrated because those with whom they need to do business are on vacation.
And the lack of working employees during the holidays puts extra strain on those who aren't on vacation, which can lead to exhaustion and mistakes.
Employee productivity falls below average for the entire month surrounding Christmas, according to a three-year survey of work trends at business-to-business workplaces during the months of December and January that was conducted by the Arlington, Mass.-based tech company Glance Networks.
The survey showed that productivity begins to fall two weeks before Christmas and does not return to normal until the third Tuesday in January.
The Southfield, Mich.-based American Society of Employers surveyed its 200 members this year and found that a large contingent planned to shut down for the holidays.
Only 1 percent of those surveyed will open for Christmas, 24 percent will open the day after Christmas, 43 percent will open Wednesday and Thursday, and 33 percent will open Friday, said ASE spokesman Joe Desantis.
Ken Seigel, an industrial psychologist and president of the Impact Group in Los Angeles, says the lack of productivity during the holidays isn't a bad thing.
"It's not that they're distracted; it's that they're disinterested," Seigel said. "I think that's a healthy response."
Work has become so consumptive, Seigel said, that he encourages people to make work a secondary priority during November and December.
"Life has become so out of balance," he said. "This is the only time where you typically can have two to three legitimate holiday days off."
At the same time, people are under pressure to meet year-end goals at this time of year, he added.
"There are year-end closings with financial guys; people are trying to meet production goals. In many ways, there is greater intensity in November and December, even though there's a push to live a more balanced life," he said.
He recommends that managers plan ahead for absences and lower their expectations during the holiday season.
"Do not book last-minute projects or come up with high-priority proposals," he said. "You're not going to get the same level of focus and interest from the people working."