Employers deny 'playing Scrooge'

Many workers will be expected to show their faces on Christmas Eve

Employers have denied "Scrooge-like" attitudes to Christmas after research suggested one in four staff would be expected to work on Christmas Eve.

With Christmas Eve falling on a Monday this year, thousands of workers are likely to take the day off.

But research from office rental firm Regus found that many people will still be expected to work a normal day.

Employment experts downplayed the problem saying most firms would be considerate of their employees' needs.

'Too indulgent'

Many offices observe an unofficial half day on Christmas Eve to enable workers to get back home in good time for the festivities.

The London Stock Exchange will shut early at 12.30pm.

Many employers have made what I regard as quite a sensible judgement that it is going to be difficult to get a lot of people in Mike Emmott, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

However, shops will be open as normal and employment experts said office staff hoping to slip away early should consider the pressure on shop assistants and transport workers.

"Most employers, if anything, are slightly too indulgent about Christmas," Mike Emmott, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, told the BBC.

"There are quite a lot of people in customer facing jobs who are just going to have to be in."

Noting that many workers did not take their full complement of annual holidays, Mr Emmott said flexibility should "cut both ways" when it came to the festive season.

'Sensible'

But he added that most firms would act sensibly, not requiring staff to come in if there was nothing to do.

"I don't think it is much to do with Scrooge," he added.

"Many employers have made what I regard as quite a sensible judgement that it is going to be difficult to get a lot of people in unless it is evident there is something to do."

When asked by the BBC whether he would be in the office on Christmas Eve, the head of employers' body CBI Richard Lambert said "certainly not".