Ho Ho No: The Holiday Burden on Child-Free Workers
I am a self-professed Christmas nut. I love everything about the holidays. The busyness of the season spent with family and friends, all of the Christmas tastes (more eggnog please!), the carols. My first year away at university, I made my family wait until I was home after winter exams to pick out our Christmas tree because I could not imagine them doing it without me.
My holiday season is filled with traditions despite my not having children. And these traditions are every bit as important as the ones that people with children have made. They deserve the time to be cherished as much as those that involve kids.
There will inevitably be pressure piled upon those without children to work in the evenings and to work on holidays so that the season can more easily be celebrated by parents.
In a 2022 ResumeLab survey, 85% said people with children have priority when planning vacations and days off (which will obviously include peak holiday periods like Christmas).
In a report by PwC and Business in the Community (reported by HR Grapevine), 66% of child-free women aged 28–40 said they felt expected to work longer hours than colleagues with children.
Research carried out by Dr Giulia Giunti from the University of St Andrews Business School suggests that child-free or single workers are “often selected as first choice for longer shifts, often at unsociable hours” which can be especially acute over the Christmas season.
An ANZCA professional bulletin (Australia/New Zealand College of Anaesthetists) uses the term “Christmas bias” to describe a pattern where child-free employees are more frequently scheduled to work during major holiday periods than colleagues with children.
Even my dad, who was in his 70s at the time, volunteered to work Christmas morning as the COVID greeter at his local hospital because his children were adults so that his colleagues with young kids could enjoy the morning with their children. And I was very proud of his kindness for doing so. But that does not mean that you should - or that you have to be - so kind.
You shouldn’t have to give up the parts of the season that matter to you simply because you’re child-free. Your joy counts too. Workplaces need to recognize that leaning on child-free employees for holiday coverage creates an unfair imbalance. Our traditions may not include little ones, but they are deeply meaningful and worthy of the same consideration.
So, it is absolutely okay to say “Ho Ho No” to the request to work over the holidays so that you can celebrate the joy of the season - as you like it, without children.
Alysia Christiaen
Creator of CFW² and a child-free woman.
