Wednesday focus: The workplace
There’s a good chance Ann Collins will deliver a baby on Christmas. Mickey Buffaloe will sell buckets of popcorn and boxes of candy, just like any other day.
Amanda Gelo won’t be shocked if someone throws up on her. And the Rev. Craig Kocher’s shift will be broadcast live on TV.
Most of working America will relax with family or friends tomorrow, if not much of the week – a holiday reprieve from the daily grind. Ditto for New Year’s.
But cops, clergy, cooks, convenience store clerks, call-center operators and others will clock in on Christmas, even as most offices, stores, schools and factories sit silent.
Some choose to work for the extra cash, especially during tough economic times. Some enjoy the tradition. Others recognize that certain careers simply never allow 9-to-5 schedules.
“Do you miss being with your family? Absolutely,” said Collins, a physician with Centre Obstetrics & Gynecology in Raleigh for 13 years. “But you knew that was going to be part of the job.”
With Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Thursdays this year, many employers give workers time off in the middle of the week. Some workers stretch that one day into two, or five.
Employees at technology companies such as Red Hat, SAS and Cisco Systems will get paid vacations as their offices shut down between Christmas and New Year’s. Even there, a core group remains on call to help customers.
Technology allows non-Christians, entrepreneurs and workaholics to do their jobs anywhere. And there are just some businesses that are “always on.”
“There are airline flights that day, places open for dinner, people who take care of the elderly,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks workplace trends.
At WakeMed Hospital’s Raleigh Campus, Amanda Gelo will spend Christmas caring for patients whose heart bypass surgeries couldn’t wait. “We usually have sicker patients around the holidays.”
Money is a factor that drives some restaurants and other small businesses to stay open on Christmas.
“The business is out there, that’s for sure,” said Fred Huebner, one of North Carolina’s biggest McDonald’s franchisees. “When we’re open on the holidays, we’re usually the only ones. People look at us and remember us as doing something for the community.”
McClatchy