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Thanksgiving Holiday Leave Reaches New High; Turkey Stages a Comeback as Employer Holiday Gift

NEWS RELEASE

Contacts:
Karen James Cody,
BNA - Press Contact

Arlington, Va. (November 13, 2007) –  The number of companies giving workers paid time off for the Thanksgiving holiday has reached a new high in 2007 and the turkey, which seemed headed for extinction as an employer holiday gift, has staged a comeback, according to BNA’s annual survey of employer year-end holiday plans.

Nearly eight in 10 surveyed employers (78 percent) have designated both Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22) and the day after as paid holidays in 2007, an increase from the 74 percent that did so in 2006 and the 69 percent in 2005.  In fact, the proportion of employers offering a two-day paid Thanksgiving leave is the highest since BNA began keeping records in 1980.

Meanwhile, the venerable Thanksgiving turkey has returned as a gift of choice in 2007 following a two-year eclipse.  Given by between 5 percent and 6 percent of employers from 2000 to 2004, turkeys were given by only 2 percent in 2005 and 3 percent in 2006.  But in 2007, the proportion of employers planning to give turkeys has rebounded to 6 percent, achieving parity with gift certificates (6 percent).

As in years past, nearly all surveyed employers (99 percent) have scheduled Thanksgiving Day as a paid day off for employees.  But, also in keeping with past practice, a substantial 36 percent minority of employers will require some employees to work onsite on this day.  Most of these holiday workers will be drawn from the ranks of service/maintenance and public safety personnel.

Among other survey findings are:

• Workers in manufacturing organizations and those in unions are most likely to benefit from a four-day holiday weekend. Nine out of 10 manufacturers (90 percent) will give their employees both Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday as paid holidays.  This compares to eight out of 10 (81 percent) employers in nonbusiness concerns (such as hospitals, educational facilities, and government) and seven out of 10 in nonmanufacturing organizations (69 percent). Unionized organizations are more likely than those without unions (86 percent versus 76 percent) to have employees take Thursday and Friday Thanksgiving holidays. 
  
  But unlike in previous years, when smaller organizations (fewer than 1,000 employees) were more apt than larger ones to give employees a four-day holiday weekend, there will be no difference in the proportion of smaller and larger employers (both 78 percent) granting an extended holiday weekend.

• During the past six years, there has been a general decline in the proportion of organizations requiring essential employees to work on Thanksgiving Day.  Overall, 36 percent of the organizations surveyed in 2007 will require at least some employees to work during the upcoming holiday.  While this figure has only fluctuated plus or minus 1 or 2 percentage points since 2004, it is substantially below the proportion of organizations that scheduled workers on Thanksgiving Day in 2003 (44 percent) and 2002 (47 percent).

• A large majority of employees who are required to work on Thanksgiving Day will receive additional compensation.  Overtime pay (56 percent) is the most frequent form of compensation.  Just under one in five employers (17 percent) will provide both overtime pay and compensatory time to holiday workers, while 7 percent will give employees holiday compensatory time only.  An additional 15 percent of employers will provide compensation based on category of worker –exempt versus nonexempt, union versus nonunion, line versus supervisory workers. 

• Thanksgiving holiday gift giving has stabilized since last year but has sharply declined over the past four years.  Approximately one in eight employers (12 percent) plans to give employees some kind of holiday gift this Thanksgiving, the same proportion as in 2006.  While this is only a marginal 2 percentage-point decline from the proportion of employers that gave gifts in 2005 (14 percent), it is a dramatic decline from the 23 percent of employers who provided gifts in 2004.  These past two years mark the lowest level of employer Thanksgiving gift giving since 1994. 

• Manufacturers and small organizations are most likely to give employers Thanksgiving gifts.  Analyzed by industry, manufacturing organizations (28 percent) are most generous in their gift giving, with nonmanufacturing (7 percent) and nonbusiness concerns (6 percent) falling far behind.  Gift giving is also much more common in smaller organizations (14 percent) than larger concerns (4 percent).  Unlike during many past Thanksgiving holidays, there is virtually no difference in employer gift giving between organizations that have unions (10 percent) and those that do not (12 percent).

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Further details and breakdowns by industry, size, and union status are contained in the full report.  For press copies, or to interview BNA Surveys Director Matthew Sottong, contact Karen James Cody at (703) 341-3476 or kcody@bna.com.

BNA’s survey of year-end holiday practices has been conducted since 1980.  This year’s report is based on responses from 210 human resource and employee relations executives representing a cross-section of U.S. employers, both public and private.

BNA is a leading publisher of news and analysis for professionals in business and government. Reporting from Washington, D.C. and the state capitals for more than 75 years, BNA is the oldest wholly employee-owned company in the United States.