Until 6 years ago I had never worked for an organization that scheduled to be closed for business on the Day after Thanksgiving. In addition, over the course of time, I worked for a fair number of companies that were open on Thanksgiving Day. At one organization the paid holidays were bundled into the general PTO bank so if, for example, a holiday feel on a regularly scheduled workday (i.e. M – F) and I wanted to take the day off for Thanksgiving or Christmas Day or Memorial Day (etc.), I needed to use a PTO day. I generally didn’t waste a PTO day on Black Friday.
But as we sit here in 2023, it seems the vast majority of employees not only expect to have the Day after Thanksgiving as a paid holiday, they’ve also turned it into a whole week away from the office. (I myself started using the phrase “let’s follow up the week after Thanksgiving” about 3 weeks ago).
Interestingly enough, contrary to popular belief, the term Black Friday (which is often ascribed to the concept that this big shopping day moves retailers from the “red” to the “black”), actually has its origins in the workplace. In the 1950’s, manufacturing employers started referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday (“marked by disaster or misfortune”) because so many employees called in sick. (Exhausted from a family gathering? Tired from traveling to grandma’s house? Hungover? Merely extending their holiday weekend?)
So who is really “off?” on Black Friday? It certainly appears as though everyone in my LinkedIn, Threads and Facebook feeds has shut it down for the week, but lots of folks are still grinding it out this week. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks holiday policies and while the most recent data indicates that approximately 43% of US employees get a paid day off on the Day after Thanksgiving there are, of course, vast differences across industries. (ssshhh; another dirty little secret: 28 million Americans don’t get any paid holidays or paid time off).
Would it surprise you to know that only 21% of workers on private service industry jobs get the day off? Off course it wouldn’t; after all those who are lucky enough to not have to work on Black Friday want to galivant around town and shop, dine and make merry. (And need retail clerks, restaurant servers and movie theater staff to help them do just that). Similarly, of course, hospitals and nursing homes never close and most manufacturing sites or production facilities run 24/7/365 (it’s far too costly to “shut down the line” and start it up again).
So if, in fact, you have a paid holiday provided by your employer this Friday, consider yourself lucky; it is a privilege.
Now we just need to work on bringing the Day of Goodwill/Boxing Day tradition to the US.
*****.
