It’s amazing the things that can influence a job search or help you make that final decision if you have a few employment opportunities to choose from. Sometimes it’s the simplest things: the atmosphere in the office or how convenient the premises are to your home. Other times you’ll be there with a spreadsheet trying to weigh up a higher salary against a better company pension. Sometimes you’ll go on the good vibes and other times you’ll want the full clinical approach. But, do you ever consider a company’s holiday entitlement offering or the average working week hours, I certainly do. Some job seekers are taking that to the next level though and are looking at a company’s festive break policy as part of the job decision mix.
With Christmas approaching, a new study has explored which UK industries are likely to offer the most time off over the festive period. Because some sectors work shorter average weeks than others, their employees are more likely to enjoy longer Christmas breaks.
The research, carried out by CVMaker using data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, compares average weekly working hours across industries to identify which careers typically come with more time away from work at Christmas.
Across the UK, the average working week is 39.1 hours, with women averaging 37.8 hours and men 39.8. Industries that fall significantly below this average are the ones most likely to provide the longest Christmas downtime.
The education sector is the frontrunner for festive time off. Employees here work just 35.2 hours per week on average — around 10% less than the national average — making them the most likely to benefit from lengthy Christmas breaks. Women in education work 34.8 hours a week and men 35.8, the lowest hours recorded across all occupations studied.
Financial and insurance activities also offer more generous festive downtime than most, with workers averaging 36 hours per week. Professional, scientific and technical activities, along with other service roles, follow closely, each averaging 37.6 hours. Information and communication roles tend to average 38 hours, while real estate staff work around 38.1 hours per week. All of these sectors fall below the UK-wide weekly average, meaning they are more likely than most to enjoy longer Christmas closures or reduced workloads.
By contrast, employees in industries with long working weeks are the least likely to have extended time off over Christmas. Agriculture, forestry and fishing has the longest average week at 42.7 hours, more than 3.5 hours above the national average, suggesting limited scope for festive downtime. Transportation and storage roles follow at 42 hours per week, with construction and water and waste management close behind at 41.3. Accommodation and food services (40.4 hours) and administrative and support activities (40.1 hours) also exceed the national average, indicating that Christmas breaks in these sectors are likely to be shorter.
The study also shows that women are more likely than men to benefit from longer Christmas breaks, as they work fewer hours in every industry. However, the size of the gap varies widely — from just 0.4 hours in financial services to 3.5 hours in construction.
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