Skip to main content

This is Work - Christmas

 



It is hard to spend time speaking about work and jobs without talking about what is probably one of the largest employers in the entire world. This employer has so many people, working directly for the organization, and hundreds and thousands of subcontractor worldwide. Christmas is a massive employer and so many people probably don’t even realize they are employees of a holiday.

I understand that Christmas is a religious holiday and the goal of this is not to take away from the Christian symbolism behind the holiday. This post is to focus on the hundreds of jobs created and worked because of this one holiday.  The management at the top of the organization is highly confidential in nature, yet despite the important role the management plays in motivating and setting the scene for the season, they take no direct salary or benefits. Rather they subcontract to so many people to get the job done, on time, in order to meet the delivery expectation of December 25th.

In my world this means many people, working hard, every day. Shopping is always on the list, for gifts and food. Some of my shopping is online. Behind the scene at the companies I purchased from is a team of happy elves, producing my goods, managing my online experience, dealing in the financial aspects, and also making sure the goods landed on my doorstep in time for the big day. I also shop in person for some items, so I met the some of the employees of the holiday season in person when I went for goods, food, etc. All very important people working to make the holiday a merry one.

These devoted elves are actually regular people, who work in a very demanding role, sales, retail, food service, transportation, warehousing, and of course the delivery services and the Post Office. While many people will complain of the commercial nature of a religious holiday, ultimately I can’t imagine a world in which the holiday did not involve trade and commerce. So many people rely on the income generated this time of year.

Besides retail, agriculture plays a huge part. From wreaths, to holly bushes, mistletoe, Christmas trees, and other plants for decoration and gifts. Agriculture is also at the forefront of the food we buy and eat whether we cooked it ourselves or dined in a restaurant. While winter is upon us in much of North America, there are still areas where agriculture can flourish in the winter months and can keep our bellies full.

On the service side, there are elves keeping us all from falling off emotional shelves. For some, Christmas may also cause stress and aggravation. Your friendly clinician, social workers, and other mental health professionals are also working hard to keep us on track with our mental wellness when holiday stress gets to be too much.

While you are getting ready to celebrate your holidays, please take the time to make sure to be extra friendly to one of these hard working elves in your travels. Not only is Christmas and the entire holiday season busy and stressful for you, it can also be for the hard working people making Christmas and the entire season, merry and bright. Christmas, this is work. #thisiswork

 ~Karen Cirincione

Email: kcirincione@gmail.com        

Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/karenjcirincione

Twitter: @kcirincione  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mastering the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Project

An engaging book club discussion about email, how we work, and also just how we as people manage our lives. The more we talked the more I started to realize that essentially project management is essentially a life skill everyone needs to master to be successful. If we simplify Project Management down to the easiest way of explain it and applying, we can define it as taking a big end goal and break it down to smaller goals, figuring out the tasks with each smaller goal, and then allocating lots of resources along the way. Ultimately at the core of project management is planning and organizing, but communication is really at the heart of it all. A project may be big, like building a bridge, creating and implementing software, or it can be as small as figuring out what to make for dinner. Along the way to said goal, every step needs to be clear and everyone needs to communicate about all the said steps along the way. Sounds easy, but apparently it is not so simple. One would think ev...
Post a Comment
Read more

A WIOA Fairy Tale

I thought it was time to have a little fun with WIOA and write a fairy tale. My last fairy tale was published in June of 2014 and was before WIOA legislation. To read the first workforce development fairy tale, check out the archives. Once upon a time in a far off land called Weeoha, lived a community of residents. Many of these residents had jobs and careers, but some found themselves in need of services and assistance to get jobs. Some were reliant on the government for assistance with basic needs because they could not find jobs. Three of these residents, Jack Butcher, John Baker, and Josie Candlemaker, found themselves not satisfied with their lack of opportunity and decided to go on a pilgrimage to find the legendary Cup of Career Success.   According to urban legend, whomever drank from this cup was promised eternal employment and self-sufficient wages as long as they desired. Jack, John, and Josie set out on foot to find the legendary cup. Their first stop was to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do you Birthday?

Another year in my life has passed. It’s time for another birthday. Each year as the day approaches, I take the time to reflect on my past year, my accomplishments, and my goals for the year. My birthday is like my personal New Years’ celebration with another opportunity to have the best year ever.   I am not afraid of a birthday. Age is just a number, but each year is what you make of it. Each year I have seen the sun rise, the rain fall, and the snow melt, I have been given a gift from the universe. Many people do not get to see another birthday. I owe myself the opportunity to set goals and feel proud as I work towards achieving them. Sometimes these goals have been born from unhappy feelings and bad situations, but growth brings wisdom.   In my working life, and especially as a workforce professional, I know some of my growth must be professionally. Having experience working with job seekers looking for jobs, I understand how crucial professional growth is...
Post a Comment
Read more