How to Navigate Fair Holiday Scheduling for Staff

The holidays might feel like a time of cheer, but for many frontline teams, it’s the busiest, most exhausting stretch of the year.

With soaring demand, a flood of time-off requests, and pressure to maintain service levels during Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s, holiday scheduling becomes one of the toughest scheduling challenges.

Although staff can write their Christmas wish list with preferred shifts, unlike Santa Claus, it’s not as simple as “Naughty or Nice” for managers. Poor scheduling during holiday periods such as Christmas and New Year’s Eve can lead to fatigue, reduced morale, fairness issues, and even risk to service/operations if not managed well.

Discover why fair holiday scheduling matters, the hidden risks, and how to do workforce planning the right way.

Why Holiday Scheduling Is Different

Unlike normal scheduling, holiday periods create a perfect storm and require extra sensitivity because:

• Demand spikes, often unpredictably
• More staff request annual leave, often for the same dates.
• Shifts become longer, more irregular, and sometimes emotionally draining.
• Fatigue hits harder, with back-to-back peak days.
• Fairness matters more because holidays carry emotional weight.
• Expectations rise from both customers, patients, and employees.
• Extreme busyness and extreme downtime, often seen by organisations.
• Cultural and religious days are being respected and observed.

The pressure to “make it all work” can push schedulers into reactive decisions that unintentionally create resentment - especially if the same people end up working every Christmas Eve or New Year’s shift.

Questions to ask yourself when balancing rostering decisions

To prepare yourself for your next roster, you might want to consider thinking about the following to keep things fair:

• Who worked during the festive season last year?
• Who gets priority for key dates like Christmas and New Year?
• Are preferences considered equally?
• Are newer staff always stuck with undesirable shifts?
• Do these shifts meet contractual and union compliances?
• Are cultural and religious days being respected for staff?
• Is the schedule transparent and defensible if questioned by staff?
• Is there enough buffer capacity to avoid overworking the team during peak days?
• Do you have the right mix of skill levels on each shift to avoid overloading key staff?
• Are you unintentionally favouring or penalising certain people (e.g., the same employees always opening/closing)?
• Have you rotated major holidays fairly across years, not just this season?

The Three Critical Pillars: Fatigue, Well-Being & Fairness

To manage these challenges effectively, it helps to recognise the three critical pillars that protect your team and keep operations running smoothly: fatigue, well-being, and fairness.

1. Staff Fatigue - The Productivity Killer

Holiday fatigue isn’t just feeling tired; it’s accumulated stress from weeks of high-intensity work. Poor scheduling amplifies it through:

• Back-to-back long shifts
• Minimal rest time
• Expecting top performers to “carry” the season
• Last-minute call-ins to cover gaps

Fatigue leads to mistakes, slower service, lower engagement, and more sick days. The holiday period becomes a retention risk.

2. Employee Well-Being - The Human Factor

People value time with family and friends during the holidays. When they feel they “never get to be off,” frustration builds fast.

Employees notice whether you protect their well-being. You’re not just assigning shifts - you’re signalling how much you value their personal lives.

3. Fairness - The Number One Driver of Morale

Holiday scheduling is emotionally charged. Unfairness (real or perceived) lingers long after January. Manual scheduling is often the most subjective too, so you need to be extra cautious if you're not using a strict, bias-free system.

Everything hinges on transparency and balance:

• Who worked Christmas last year?
• Who gets priority for New Year’s this year?
• Are preferences considered equally?
• Are newer staff always stuck with undesirable shifts?

When people believe their schedule is fair, they accept tough shifts more willingly.

How to Do Staff Holiday Planning Right

1. Start Sooner Than You Think

Holiday planning should begin weeks or even months before Christmas.

What to do early:

• Set a clear deadline for holiday requests.
• Communicate critical dates (e.g., Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day).
• Forecast staffing needs based on past data.
• Identify roles that must be staffed at all times.

Early clarity removes guesswork and reduces the likelihood of scheduling disputes.

2. Gather Employee Availability & Preferences

Ask employees:

• When they prefer to work
• When they cannot work
• Which holidays matter most to them personally

You won’t grant every request - but the act of asking builds trust. It also lets you shape a schedule with far fewer surprises. Digital scheduling tools that allow all staff to submit preferences via mobile can help streamline this process.

3. Use a Fair Holiday Rotation System

A holiday rotation helps distribute major holiday shifts evenly over the years so that the same people aren’t always working the toughest days. Each employee takes a turn, creating predictability, balance, and a sense of fairness.

However, rotations can get messy when staffing changes. If someone leaves mid-cycle, their future holiday slots open up, and the pattern can feel disrupted. New joiners also need to be added without skipping ahead or absorbing all the undesirable shifts. Over time, this can create an imbalance - some employees may work more holidays than others or repeat the same holiday too soon.

That’s why rotations need regular review and adjustment. Managers should rebalance whenever people join or leave so the system remains transparent and fair. The goal isn’t to rigidly follow the original plan - it’s to maintain a rotation everyone agrees feels equitable.

This process is especially challenging when done manually and requires digging through old schedules. Smart AI tools like Otto can make it easier - just ask, “Who worked Christmas shifts last year?”

4. Prevent Fatigue by Balancing Workloads

Avoid over-reliance on the same “go-to” employees.

Instead:

• Spread demanding shifts among team members.
• Ensure rest periods between shifts.
• Limit extreme stretch periods (e.g., three 12-hour shifts in peak week).
• Add seasonal staff or flexible workers to absorb pressure.

Fatigue is predictable - and preventable.

5. Build Flexibility Into the System

Holidays bring unexpected absences (travel issues, illness, family emergencies).

Make your schedule resilient by:

• Allowing manager-approved shift swaps.
• Having a backup pool of qualified staff.
• Adding an extra person on the busiest days.
• Leaving micro-gaps where possible for on-the-day adjustments.

Flexible scheduling reduces stress for both managers and staff. You might also want to consider software that can help make this process automated to reduce administration time and increase optimisation.

6. Offer Incentives & Appreciation

If people are giving up Christmas Eve or New Year’s to work, show them it matters. You might consider:

• Premium holiday pay
• Additional leave days later
• Gift cards or holiday bonuses
• A catered meal or staff celebration
• Personalised thank-you notes

Small gestures go a long way in retaining goodwill.

7. Communicate Early, Often & Clearly

After creating the schedule:

• Publish it early
• Explain the logic
• Highlight fairness mechanisms (with AI tools, the system removes bias)
• Encourage questions
• Reiterate the rotation policy

When people understand the “why,” they’re less likely to feel unfairly treated.

8. Be careful of volunteers who overwork themselves

Even the most passionate employees who volunteer for extra shifts during the holidays can push themselves too hard. Sometimes, the promise of double pay and extra overtime makes it easy for them to take on more than they can realistically handle.

While this dedication is admirable, it can also lead to burnout and a lack of productivity during the shift. Pay attention to patterns of overcommitment and ensure staff are getting enough rest. Employees who overexert themselves in the short term can be just as vulnerable.

Managing Shift Swaps During the Holidays

Shift swaps are essential during the holidays, when travel plans, family commitments, and seasonal illnesses make schedules more unpredictable. Having a clear, simple swap policy in place (or tools that make it easier to swap) covering how to request a swap, when it must be submitted, and who approves it helps prevent confusion and keeps the roster stable during peak periods.

Manager approval is especially important at this time of year. Even voluntary swaps can accidentally create coverage gaps, unbalanced workloads, or fatigue issues if not monitored. Ensuring each swap maintains the right skill mix, complies with rest requirements, and doesn’t overload the same employees helps keep operations smooth and fair.

Finally, make it easy for staff to request swaps early and transparently. Encouraging proactive communication, supporting simple swap tools, and keeping an eye on fairness patterns (such as the same people giving up all the major holidays) will help your team stay flexible without burning out. A small amount of structure goes a long way in keeping the holiday schedule resilient.

Frequently asked questions by employees

Below are common questions employees often ask, which employers can review in advance to prepare clear and consistent responses:

• Do we get double pay on Christmas?
• Why did I get the bad shift?
• Can I swap shifts with someone?
• How far in advance will the schedule be posted?
• What are the rules around taking holidays or requesting time off?
• How do overtime hours work during the holidays?
• Why was my holiday request denied?
• Who do I talk to about payroll issues?
• How do I report safety concerns?
• What are the expectations around breaks and meal periods?

Consider using a staff scheduling tool

As the holiday season becomes busier and more complex, even the most organised managers can struggle to keep track of availability, preferences, swaps, and fairness.

A dedicated staff scheduling tool can take much of that pressure off by automating the routine admin, highlighting potential conflicts, and giving employees a clear, accessible way to manage their shifts.

By using the right tools, you not only save time - you create a more transparent, fair, and stress-free scheduling experience for your entire team this Christmas and beyond.

Remember, your approach to these holidays will strongly influence team morale for the entire year.