People working in HR ranked the third-highest most likely to be working on Christmas day in the UK, coming after those who work in healthcare, arts and culture.
This is according to One4all Gift Cards, a company that creates an effective reward scheme for employees with gift cards. Whose research found that 9 per cent of HR expect to be working on Christmas day. With 19 per cent of those in healthcare and 11 per cent of those who work in arts and culture expecting to work.
The statistics equate to 4.7 million people working on Christmas day. Most workers predict they will be working for seven hours on the day but 18 per cent of employees expect to be working for more than nine hours.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour force survey in 2014 found that those working in the cleaning and domestic sector are the least likely (3 per cent) to work over the Christmas period. On the other hand, care workers are the most likely at 23 per cent. The ONS survey also showed that women are more likely to be working on Christmas day than men with 3.8 per cent to 2.9 per cent.
Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester said:
They should be provided with a nice meal and an abundance of support and empathy,” Cooper told HR magazine.
The majority of Christmas Day workers are in the public sector, and this work is often necessary to keep the country moving. These people are giving up a special family day and should be compensated with extra money. It’s not just another day at work and they don’t deserve to be deprived of the joy that Christmas brings.
Funnily enough, 33 per cent of workers actually enjoy working over Christmas and 77 per cent said that helping others is the true spirit of Christmas.
One4all Gift Cards surveyed 1,382 UK employees to obtain their views on working on Christmas day.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
