Two no’s and a yes. Our big holidays are New Year’s, Golden Week (April 29 - May 5) and O-bon (around August 15).
We have a lot of different clients, and there will always be a few of them that have a major deadline before New Year’s, so taking time off then creates a big disruption for everyone else. Golden Week is usually out, since air fares are double what they are the rest of the year. O-bon on the other hand is ok, since our office only gives two “official” days off, and pretty everyone is expected to plan a summer vacation sometime between July and September. There usually aren’t a lot of big deadlines in August, either, so taking off doesn’t disrupt much.
I’ve heard Vegas veterans say Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the least crowded times of the year. Everyone’s seeing relatives and not going on vacation. Sounds like it would be a good time to gamble on the cheap.
We shut down between Christmas and New Years, excellent because no email piles up. All holiday days - no vacation needed. I usually take a few days off before also.
I teach, so I’m off between Christmas and New Year’s every year. I get to choose up to 4 personal days throughout the year, but they can’t be combined with a holiday (so no taking Wednesday before or Monday after Thanksgiving).
We’ll take the week and go to FL to hang with my husband’s family and our daughter for Christmas, and we’ll be back home before NYE. Things get really slow at work starting around Thanksgiving anyway, so it’s not like I’m missing anything. I’m hoping to have a few days at home just to chill. We shall see.
That is mostly true. The week before Christmas is a really inexpensive time to visit Vegas. The first part of December is always extremely busy due to National Finals Rodeo.
And to answer the question, we are not allowed time off during the holidays. The only mandatory function we have at work through the year is our New Year’s Eve party. So the week between Christmas and New Year’s is spent preparing for the party. But, can’t complain, the office has an amazing view of the Strip and when the fireworks go off we have an unobstructed view without having to fight the traffic and parking issues that the unwashed masses deal with.
One of the great things about the college that I work at is that staff get two out of the four weeks of winter break as paid time off, in addition to our regular vacation time. The students and faculty aren’t there, so there’s not much sense in us being there for the whole break either.