The winning pick for Christmas work holiday: Monday

When it comes to scheduling employee holiday time to fulfill employer obligations this year, the clear winner is Monday.

Christmas and New Year's Day both fall on Sundays this month, the day when most employees are already scheduled to be off work. That gives employers little choice but to designate another weekday as the holiday.

Three-day weekends will be the norm, with most employers contacted by SourceMedia Group indicating Monday was chosen as the closest day to the actual holiday.

Human resources specialist Jennifer Carroll said TrueNorth Companies in Cedar Rapids is reverting to a rule of thumb for national holidays.

"If a holiday falls on a Saturday, we recognize Friday" at the financial services and insurance provider," Carroll said. "If a holiday falls on a Sunday, we recognize Monday."

Many businesses, of course, won't be giving out three-day weekends. They include most retailers.

Lindale Mall Senior Marketing Manager Lisa Rowe said the holiday schedule this year will provide extra shopping opportunities, and retailers want to take advantage.

"An extra Saturday for sales before Christmas is ideal," Rowe said. She thinks the biggest holiday shopping day, dubbed "Super Saturday," will nevertheless fall on the previous Saturday. That's because many people will be traveling to visit friends and family on the day before Christmas, or will already have completed their shopping.

A good number of retail employees also will have no rest on Monday, Dec. 26. It is, Rowe explained, a "huge shopping day" because after-Christmas sales draw out so many shoppers. Those sales may get an added boost this year because so many potential shoppers will be off work on Dec. 26.

Cedar Rapids' largest private employers, Rockwell Collins, typically gives most employees the week off between Christmas and New Year's. This year, the holiday will stretch from Friday, Dec. 23, through Monday, Jan. 2, 2012.

Employees at ESCO Group in Marion will be among many enjoying a four-day weekend. The company ordinarily provides a holiday for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since both holidays fall on a weekend this year, ESCO employees will take Friday, Dec. 23, off in observance of Christmas Eve, and Monday Dec. 26, off in observance of Christmas Day.

"Our employees are happy about it, because if they're traveling it will give them extra time to come back, and if they have visitors it will give them extra time to get on the road," said Stacy Postier, ESCO marketing director.

Employees of ACT in Iowa City will be able to take two consecutive four-day weekends because the company provides a holiday for New Year's Eve and Christmas Eve as well as New Year's Day and Christmas, a spokesman said.

For other companies, the financial markets may dictate when to take the holiday. The New York Stock Market is closed on Monday, Dec. 26, and Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, according to the New York Stock Exchange/EuroNext web site. That drastically reduces the value of working the Mondays to financial companies like RBC Wealth Management in Cedar Rapids, which will take the days off.