Companies Plan to Close More Days for 2007 Holidays

November 28, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A recent survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that more employers plan to close their offices the day after Thanksgiving and the day before Christmas in 2007 than in 2006.

According to SHRM, 72% of the 502 HR professionals surveyed said they plan to close their offices the day after Thanksgiving in 2007, compared to 63% of 469 HR professionals surveyed in February 2006 who said they would be closed on that day this year. Forty-eight percent plan to close their offices the day before Christmas in 2007, compared with 29% who plan to close that day in 2006. SHRM notes that the lower percentage could be due to Christmas being on Monday in 2006.

As for Thanksgiving and Christmas days, 93% of employers surveyed said they would be closed on Thanksgiving and 97% said they would be closed on Christmas in 2007, compared to 90% and 91% in 2006, respectively.

Workers may enjoy more time off for the 2008 New Year’s holiday as well, as 27% of employers said they plan to close their offices on New Year’s Eve in 2007, compared to 5% who plan to do so in 2006. However, New Year’s Eve is on Sunday in 2006.

Other findings of the SHRM survey included:

  • 16% plan to close the day after Christmas in 2007; 8% planned to do so this year.
  • 96% plan to close New Year’s Day in 2007; 88% did so this year.
  • 3% plan to close between Christmas and New Year’s Day at the end of 2007. There was no figure for 2006.
  • The percentage of HR professionals who said their organizations would not close for any holiday in 2007 was unchanged from 2006 at 4%.
  • 5% polled in February said their organizations follow the federal government’s holiday schedule, while 7% indicated in October that their organizations will follow the federal government’s schedule in 2007.
  • The percentage of employers who plan to close early on Thanksgiving in 2007 remained the same as the number who said they planned to do so in 2006 at 3%. One percent said they plan to close early on Christmas in 2007, the same percentage as for 2006.

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