The holidays are here and some stress can come with them. Sure, it’s mostly self-induced stress, as we do things to make other people happy…buying gifts, throwing parties, meeting for dinner, traveling, whatever. You need to realize that regardless of whether you like this season or not (“paging Mr Scrooge…”), your employees have other things on their minds right now. So, maybe back off a little bit if you can and give them some extra time..

Give them a chance to buy some gifts, pick out a tree, decorate the house, or go grocery shopping. Ask yourself if there is really any reason people need to be working on Christmas Eve. Or December 31st? This is not to suggest you should simply shut down your firm, but instead merely giving people a little extra personal time if it doesn’t lead to some critical failure on your company’s part.

If you think about it, a lot of time spent at work in the next 10 days might not actually be spent working. So how about making a deal with your employees: you’ll let them take some extra personal time, and in return, when they are at work they will really be working. No more shopping online or addressing Christmas cards, but instead doing the job you pay them to do. Sound fair?

You’ll often find that if you give people a little extra leeway when they need it, they will put in some extra effort the rest of the time. They tend to be motivated to work for you if they know you appreciate what they do the other 11 months of the year, and by giving them some freedom now when they can use it, you also let them know you trust their judgement and professionalism.

Or, you could decide to just to stick with the regular workload and expect people to do their own stuff on their own time. But beware…you’re likely to get a visit on Christmas Eve by three ghosts…