As December holidays approach, many workers plan time off, but in some fields holiday shifts are assigned to single or childfree employees under the assumption they need time off less than their peers. Sophie, a hospital social worker, recalls that bias showing up in her earlier jobs in retail and gig work. She says she internalized the bias by volunteering to work major holidays, noting, "I don't have a family to celebrate with." The sentiment, she adds, amounts to a stereotype that single people have no outside commitments. Managers should be careful not to assume that single or childfree staff don’t need holiday time as much as others do.
That problem is known as singlism, a term used by social scientist Bella DePaulo to describe the stigmatizing of and discrimination against people who are single. DePaulo argues that single people have lives outside work and commitments that matter to them, and the workplace should treat time off and holiday scheduling like any other work decision. "Single people have people who matter to them, and commitments and interests and passions that matter to them. All that should be irrelevant, anyway: [The] workplace should be about work. Everything should even out—how often you get to leave early, come in on the holidays, get your choice of vacation times, etc.—such that over time, every worker is treated the same, and marital status or parental status do not matter at all." HuffPost readers also shared experiences, including Emily, who said she was always the one who had to sacrifice time with family in college development: "It wasn’t even a question." Another reader, Patricia, described long deployments that often fell on holidays in the military because she was single: "Doesn’t my kid count as family?" She added that she loved her job but sometimes asked, "Why me? Again?"
There is no single fix, but many experts urge more transparent, inclusive planning. Some organizations organize schedules based on seniority, but Abbajay notes this can still leave gaps and may favor workers with families who are older. "Seniority usually means it will favor people who have families, who are going to be older," said Mary Abbajay, president of the Careerstone Group. She said single, childfree workers are often pushed to work holiday days, especially in health care and retail that rely on shift work. Abbajay suggests alternatives such as a clear scoring system, noting: "Maybe make an equation out of it. Seniority gets you one point; you lose a point if you took it off last year. Maybe you have a lottery for some people." The bottom line, she said, is to create a process that feels fair and inclusive. She also recommended rewarding those who work the holidays with money or a small gift, and offering extra paid time off.
Sophie’s own experience underscores the stakes. Her approach to holiday scheduling shifted as wiser colleagues and older peers, some retired, helped her recognize that she deserved time off just like anyone else. She described last year, when COVID pushed her to work all the major holidays she celebrates — Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, New Year’s Eve and Day — but this year she is choosing to take them all off.
Experts stress that policy choices matter for morale and retention, especially in sectors with essential coverage. Employers who involve workers in the scheduling process, provide flexible and fair options, and publicly recognize those who cover holidays may reduce the strain on single and childfree staff and improve team cohesion. For workers who repeatedly face holiday shifts, industry leaders suggest starting with a request early and framing it as a request for balance rather than a complaint. And for those following Sophie’s example, the path to fairer holiday time may begin with small, practical changes that say, in effect, that all workers matter equally, regardless of relationship status.