Acas highlight that the Christmas season has a big impact on most businesses and employees, either because of extra demand for products, services and sales or because of a Christmas/New Year holiday shutdown. Many employees will request time off to spend time with their family, go on holiday or attend religious services. Employees working over the Christmas period may experience different working patterns, a change in the nature of their workload or face difficulties getting to and from work. Acas point out that employers can handle the effects on the organisation by planning ahead and have published advice to assist in understanding, in particular, the pattern of bank holidays over the Christmas period and their legal status, handling holiday requests and dealing with managing absences.

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