At Melbourne-headquartered diversified property group, Oliver Hume, office and administration staff, finance, payroll and accounting will all finish work on Wednesday 18 December and won’t return until Monday 6 January 2025.

Oliver Hume is an end-to-end property group, raising capital from retail and wholesale investors, acquiring land, building developments, managing funds and project marketing. How long the break is for each team depends on their role.

The funds management and construction teams generally shut down for the whole period. Skeleton staff from the asset management team – who manage the properties – remain on call in case anything goes wrong. The length of the Christmas shutdown for the project marketing team is dependent on the vendors and whether they are running a promotion.

“The advantages of having everyone off at once means that someone who has role dependencies doesn't have any issues,” says Aaron Stead CA, group financial controller and company secretary. “No one's going to have any issues with not having someone there to do something.”

The business has about 190 staff and is one of many companies in Australia and New Zealand that enforces a Christmas shutdown for staff.

Anyone who wants to remain at work during the Christmas period is only approved to do so by exception and would need a good reason. In general, staff are encouraged to take leave to promote work-life balance.

There are exceptions

Stead doesn’t see any disadvantages of closing the business over Christmas because generally, the property sector shuts down during this period anyway.

But Stead won’t be starting his break when the rest of the staff do on 18 December because there is an Oliver Hume board meeting the following day. As company secretary, he will be preparing board papers and attending the meeting.

“It's a busy final three weeks in our team because the closure pulls our board meeting forward a week, which means that we’ve got to have papers out a week before, and we’ve got to have our result locked away really efficiently for that month and have it fully reviewed,” he says.

The Fair Work Ombudsman rules that an employer can direct employees to take annual leave during a shutdown if their award or registered agreement allows it. In most cases, the direction to take leave during a shutdown must be reasonable, must be in writing and provided to employees within the required notice period.

Workplace closures are good for you

Employment New Zealand states that employers are able to enforce a closedown across an entire workplace; for part of an organisation; or for different parts of a workplace at different times. An employer must give their employees 14 days’ notice before an annual shutdown.

North Island accounting firm, PKF Doyles, will start its shutdown on 20 December – to give staff a few days to prepare for Christmas – and resume business on 13 January, so they can meet the GST and compliance obligations due on 15 January 2025.

“It gives our team a really good break,” says director Michael Dwyer CA. “When you take into account the four statutory days around Christmas and New Year, it means the team aren’t using as much annual leave entitlement as you might think.

“This means the team take their holidays then, when all their friends and family are also generally on a break. The weather is hopefully good over this period, too!”

Because clients are generally on holiday at the same time, it’s very unlikely there will be any professional contact from clients. However, the firm – which has 30 employees across Whanganui, Tūrangi and Ohakune – is available if needed.

“Our phones are still turned on. Arising from COVID when we worked from home, a lot of clients have our mobile numbers and they call or text often. Clients are respectful that we are only human and need a break too,” says Dwyer.

The shutdown does come at a busy time of year, which can add to the workload leading up to the break.

“We are pretty busy right now. We had our Christmas party early and a Melbourne Cup function, and other social events as well,” Dwyer says.

“They are important for team morale and team bonding, and to get the best out of the team. The social side is really important to us, especially if asking for a big work output in the lead-in to Christmas.

“Everyone understands that we are doing a big push to get as much work done as possible, keep our IR [Inland Revenue] targets on track and meet client expectations.”

What is the Christmas shutdown period?

The Christmas shutdown period is between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day where businesses close to allow staff a break. Most employees need to take mandatory leave during this time, excluding the public holidays that fall during this period.

What days do we get off for Christmas?

While days vary depending on occupation, the business shutdown policy and type of business (e.g. retail), most companies in Australia and New Zealand – at a minimum – close from Tuesday 24 December 2024 to Thursday 2 January 2025.

Future Christmas shutdown dates

Possible minimum Christmas closedown dates for the next couple of years are:

2025–2026: Thursday 25 December 2025 to Friday 2 January 2026.

2026–2027: Friday 25 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2026.

Is Christmas break paid?

For full and part-time employees who normally work on a day on which a public holiday falls, the employee should be paid for the ordinary hours they would have worked on that day at the base rate of pay. For the days that aren’t public holidays, you will have to check with your employer to understand your annual leave entitlements.