This isn’t about not liking work.
I’ve worked my whole life.
Hard work doesn’t bother me.
What bothers me is how the rewards and recognition get handed out—especially around the holidays.
As the year winds down, you start to see the same pattern repeat itself:
- Management takes more time off
- The emails get warmer
- The “thank you for your hard work” speeches ramp up
- Maybe there’s a bonus check or a turkey
On the surface, it looks like appreciation.
In practice, it’s usually about retention, not respect.
Plants stay running through the holidays so year-end numbers close strong. Those results show up on reports, and the people who get credit—and bonuses—are the ones who made the decision to keep others working while they went home to their families.
Workers get thanked.
Managers get paid.
“That imbalance matters.“
A Real Example from the Floor
At one company I worked for, a new plant manager tried to force a night crew to work Christmas Eve—even though the plant was scheduled to be closed.
Several workers who didn’t celebrate Christmas volunteered to cover the shift so others could be home with their families. That should have been the end of it.
It wasn’t.
The night shift Management didn’t want to work.
They wanted to be home with family.
When it became clear the crew wasn’t going to quietly absorb the sacrifice for the plant manager, his demeanor changed. The smiles and polite language disappeared, revealing they were never genuine to begin with.
“It wasn’t about keeping the plant running.
It was about making sure someone else paid the price so management didn’t have to.”
That moment told the whole story.
What Really Happens When Plants Run Over the Holidays
When plants run during holidays, support drops—sometimes to near zero.
- Engineering is gone
- Vendors are closed
- Decision-makers are unreachable
If something breaks, workers are expected to “figure it out” with fewer resources and higher risk. Research consistently shows that high job demands combined with low support are primary drivers of burnout, especially in shift-based and industrial work (World Health Organization, 2019).
After the holidays, the questions start.
Why wasn’t this fixed?
Why wasn’t this planned better?
Those questions usually come from managers who weren’t there. Leadership distance like this is well-documented to erode trust and increase turnover, even in higher-paying environments (Harvard Business Review, 2018).
I Don’t Mind Working” Is How It Starts
You’ll hear it—often from younger workers:
“I don’t mind working. I don’t have anything else to do.”
That’s not a character flaw or a problem with the worker who wants to work the holidays. The problem is what management learns from it.
Once leadership realizes it can take a holiday from workers, it doesn’t stop. Organizational research shows that when boundaries aren’t enforced, exceptions quickly become expectations—and expectations turn into policy (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2019).
- One holiday becomes every holiday
- One favor becomes obligation
- One exception becomes “how we do things here”
This Isn’t Complaining — It’s About Principle
This isn’t about bitterness.
It’s about boundaries.
If workers don’t set them, management will cross every available line—and then relabel it:
- “Core values”
- “Commitment”
- “Team culture”
Corporate language is often used to make immoral behavior sound moral while shifting cost and risk onto workers (Harvard Business Review, 2018).
When a company takes your time, it isn’t just taking labor.
It’s taking:
- Time with your spouse or family
- Time with your kids
- Recovery and health
- Long-term sustainability
Burnout isn’t a personal weakness.
It’s an organizational outcome designed that way. (World Health Organization, 2019).
The Line That Actually Matters
The next time management says, “Thank you for your hard work,” remember this:
They didn’t have to work hard.
That’s why they’re thanking you—for doing it for them.
Takeaways / Next Moves
- Liking work doesn’t mean accepting disrespect
- Praise without shared sacrifice is a warning sign
- Every unchecked exception becomes future policy
- Boundaries protect workers — companies rarely do
Real Work Truth isn’t anti-work.
It’s anti-illusion.
Work matters.
People matter more
Working holidays doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of systems that use language and financial pressure to turn sacrifice into expectation. Over time, workers give up time with family while management keeps the rewards. I cover this in greater depth in my free eBooks Slave Wages by Design and Corporate Language by Design.
