Survey: Two-Fifths of Businesses Require Employees to Work Thanksgiving Day

 According to Bloomberg BNA’s 2013 Thanksgiving Holiday Practices Survey, even though more than seven out of 10 employers have scheduled paid days off for both Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday, nearly two-fifths of all businesses will require at least some employees to work this Thanksgiving.

“Even for the 97 percent of employers who designate Thanksgiving as a paid day off, a significant portion plan to keep some lights on in the workplace requiring at least a few to work on the holiday,” said Matt Sottong, director of Surveys and Research Reports for Bloomberg BNA. “Still, workers who must miss or delay Thanksgiving dinner typically are rewarded, as most survey respondents reported that their employees will receive extra compensation — overtime, compensatory time off, or both — for working holiday shifts.”

The survey of nearly 500 U.S. employers also revealed:

• 87 percent of workers in the manufacturing industry have both Thanksgiving Day and Friday, Nov. 29, as paid days off this year, compared with 71 percent of nonmanufacturing businesses and 63 percent of nonbusiness establishments like health care facilities, government agencies, and educational institutions.

• 77 percent of companies with fewer than 1,000 workers have scheduled paid holidays for both Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday, while 62 percent of larger employers will do the same.

• 37 percent of employers surveyed will require at least a few employees to work on Thanksgiving Day this year, not much different than the 36 percent who required the same in 2012.

• 13 percent of respondent organizations will provide some type of employee gift planned in late November, such as distributing gift certificates for food (7 %), giving workers an actual turkey (4%) and holding Thanksgiving luncheons or dinners (1%).