The holiday season tests even the most disciplined workers. The calendar compresses; family responsibilities expand; routines dissolve. And now, we have another important element to add: remote work comes into the equation. Yes, we have to admit that productivity becomes a delicate balancing act between personal commitments and professional expectations. Yet this period of the year, far from being an unproductive limbo, can serve as a strategic opportunity—for focus, for recalibration, and for strengthening the implicit contract between managers and their teams.

As a pandemic inheritance, over the past five years, hybrid and remote work have taught us that productivity is as much about clarity as it is about effort. The holiday season amplifies this principle. People don’t underperform because they lack goodwill; they underperform because they lack alignment. When organizations provide clear lanes and individuals create intentional boundaries, work flows—even between professional parties, posadas, dinners, and cross-country flights. The best strategy is a dual-perspective one: employees need micro-habits that keep them grounded, while leaders must set expectations that reduce ambiguity. Productivity becomes a shared responsibility, not a seasonal miracle.

So let us start. Employees: make your workflow holiday-proof. During the holidays, the goal is not to replicate a “normal” day-to-day work rhythm but to create a realistic, high-efficiency one. Shorter work windows, when structured, can yield high-quality output. The key is to anticipate disruptions before they pull you into chaos. Establishing predictable patterns protects both your time and your mental bandwidth. A well-organized team member may still feel festive; a disorganized one simply feels overwhelmed. That is the reality.

On the other had we have the managers: give direction, not pressure. The holidays can strain trust systems in companies. Some managers assume productivity will drop; some employees assume managers’ expectations will rise. Miscommunication becomes the enemy. Leaders who communicate early, set non-negotiables, and show flexibility where possible preserve team trust—and often see better results. The most effective managers treat the holiday season as the closing chapter of a fiscal narrative: define what must be completed and what can wait until January. Rather than policing activity, managers should build a scaffold that enables autonomy. When employees understand priorities, they require less oversight, and the business ends the year with fewer surprises.

Below are two holiday productivity checklists—one for workers, one for managers—that help maintain alignment, preserve morale, and keep operations moving smoothly.

Checklist for workers: staying productive from home during the holidays

Clarify priorities before the calendar fills up

  • List the top 3 deliverables that absolutely must be finished before year-end.

  • Share them with your manager and confirm deadlines.

Design short, intense work blocks

  • Schedule 2–3 focused “power hours” each day.

  • Protect them as you would a doctor’s appointment.

Communicate your availability

  • Update your calendar with real availability windows.

  • Set clear boundaries with family or holiday visitors.

Prepare for mobility

  • Keep essential files synced and accessible across devices.

  • Pack a “mobile office” kit if you’ll be traveling.

Reduce digital clutter

  • Clean your inbox, archive files, and clear your desktop.

  • Fewer distractions equal faster execution.

Lean into asynchronous tools

  • Use shared docs, project boards, and recorded updates.

  • Avoid unnecessary meetings—they’re harder to coordinate in December.

Celebrate small wins

  • Acknowledge progress daily to stay motivated.

  • Reward yourself: a break, a walk, or a holiday treat.

Checklist for managers: ensuring team productivity without becoming a Grinch

Issue a clear “holiday priorities brief”

  • Specify what must be delivered before year-end and what can wait.

  • Keep it to one page; ambiguity is the enemy.

Adjust expectations based on reduced availability

  • Avoid imposing large new projects after mid-December.

  • Plan around known slowdowns rather than resisting them.

Encourage asynchronous workflows

  • Replace status meetings with written updates.

  • Ensure everyone knows where to find latest project information.

Make responsiveness guidelines explicit

  • Define what requires same-day response versus next-day or next week.

  • Reduce the anxiety employees feel about being “always on.”

Support flexibility—publicly

  • Approve schedule blocks, travel days, and focus hours.

  • When leaders model balance, teams follow without guilt.

Strengthen trust

  • Focus on outcomes, not online presence.

  • Avoid micromanaging remote staff during a naturally disruptive season.

Close the year with recognition

  • Acknowledge effort, not only results.

  • People work better when they feel seen.

A shared strategy for a distressful season is the key to success. The real issue here is to stay focused even if we have a different routine. Different routines can be very distracting. The holiday period may never be the most predictable moment of the year, but it doesn’t have to be the least productive. Distraction can be stressful if we do not have clarity on the priorities of our tasks. We do not want the season to be a time in which we are overstressed because we lost track and were not able to prioritize our activities. We do not want the season to be full of tasks and end up super exhausted.

With transparency from managers and intentionality from workers, remote teams can maintain momentum while still enjoying the season’s celebrations. Ultimately, productivity during the holidays is a shared agreement: everyone commits to clarity, everyone respects boundaries, and everyone finishes the year with both work and well-being intact.

We know, because we do, that the calendar is going to compress in this time of the year; we know in advance that family responsibilities are going to expand; and we have to be aware that routines will dissolve. Those are facts that we can anticipate. Yes, we must admit that productivity will become a delicate balancing act between personal commitments and professional expectations. But we can manage, or better said, we must be able to balance all the activities that we shall face.

So, if we know that beforehand, the best thing is to anticipate. I hope that the checklists I am proposing are a good tool to have a joyful and peaceful season.