Many Will Spend Thanksgiving with Co-workers

Seventeen percent of workers have to work on Thanksgiving, with workers in Atlanta (45%), Dallas (34%) and Washington, D.C., (21%) the most likely to do so. Ten percent of those in Boston and Philadelphia will be celebrating with people at work, compared with 8% of Chicagoans and New Yorkers. Forty-four percent of those in the leisure and hospitality business have to work on Thanksgiving, versus the retail (31%), transportation (30%), health care (28%) and information technology (14%) industries.

Those in the transportation and utilities industry are the most likely to spend the holiday with coworkers (27%), followed by leisure and hospitality (25%), health care (23%), retail (20%) and manufacturing (19%).

By demographic, 26% of African American, 25% of Hispanic, 22% of disabled, 18% of Asian and 17% of LGBT workers will celebrate Thanksgiving with their co-workers. This compares with 16% of non-diverse workers. Nearly one-quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds will spend the holidays away from family and with their co-workers, versus 18% of 35- to 44-year-olds and 15% of 45- to 54-year-olds. Eighteen percent of those ages 55-plus will spend the holiday with co-workers.

While most survey respondents said they would like to spend Thanksgiving with their family (90%), not everyone agreed. Two percent said they prefer to spend the holiday with their co-workers and one-in-ten reported they prefer not spending the holiday with family or co-workers.

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder among 3,976 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between August 13 and September 6, 2012.