Tired of going to work near Tet

The 25-year-old female office worker from Ha Tinh, working in Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City, said that 8 hours of work is just enough time to receive online orders, plan ao dai photo shoots, choose clothes for the year-end party, and check plane tickets to avoid changing departure times. There is still work to be done, so An decided to go home and finish it.

"The year-end parties with fellow countrymen, classmates, and close colleagues took up most of the week. By the time I got home it was almost midnight, I just wanted to sleep," she said. This caused the amount of work to pile up.

This situation is also happening to Minh Huyen, 38 years old, in Ha Dong district, Hanoi. A few weeks before Tet, she had to take care of her two children while her husband was away on business, prepare offerings and buy gifts for relatives and leaders of the agency.

During her time at work, Huyen takes advantage of the time to order cakes and jams. At noon, she looks for dozens of Tet gift baskets and buys new clothes for the whole family. Late at night, when her two children are asleep, the woman sits down to roll spring rolls and make fried pork rolls to prepare food for the five days of Tet. On weekends, she and her husband go to wish their boss and relatives a happy new year.

The mother of two compared the days before Tet to a marathon until she was exhausted while work at the company piled up.

Meanwhile, Mr. Quoc Ha, 40 years old, Minh Huyen's husband, is always in a state of lethargy when constantly "running around" to meet partners at the end of the year. Many times he has up to three appointments in one day, so he has to push the Tet shopping to his wife.

Associate Professor, Dr. Do Minh Cuong, Deputy Director of Business Culture, Vietnam Association for Development of Business Culture, said that Pham An and Minh Huyen's husband and wife are suffering from psychological syndrome.Holiday Click-off- refers to the state of restlessness and excitement before each holiday.

There has been no research on this phenomenon in Vietnam, but its manifestations are global. A survey by the Peakon platform (USA) on the interaction between managers and employees with 12,000 office workers in the US, UK, and Germany showed that more than 50% of workers lost focus on work many days before the official holiday. Notably, young employees, especially Gen Z, are also likely to turn on rest mode earlier than older employees.

Mr. Cuong realized that the Vietnamese people's lethargy before Tet is not new, because of the mentality of wanting to take care of everything for the important holiday. Accordingly, workers tend to complete their backlog of work before Tet, avoiding dragging it into the new year.

Besides, people always want to buy home decorations and new clothes. The morality of gratitude also makes many people want to prepare decent Tet gifts for relatives, friends, teachers or superiors. The need to organize year-end parties to meet friends, colleagues and partners increases. And finally, there is the "war" of booking train, bus and plane tickets to go home for Tet because the online system still has many shortcomings and often has problems.

"Having to handle three or four tasks at the same time makes many workers feel tired and have difficulty concentrating on their work," said Mr. Cuong.

Experts also said the group is susceptible to the syndrome.Holiday Click-offmainly young people, lacking experience in time management. Second, people over 40 years old are having to balance between work, social relationships and family.

In addition, Master Le Anh Tu, lecturer at the Faculty of Public Relations - Communication, Van Lang University (Ho Chi Minh City) said that the third group of affected subjects are workers suffering from burn-out syndrome, a state of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion due to prolonged excessive stress.

According to Mr. Tu, in difficult economic times, unemployment increases, many workers have to increase productivity 2-3 times compared to normal to earn enough income or keep their jobs. Therefore, feeling tired and counting down the days of Tet holiday is inevitable.

Thanh Tu, 28 years old, in Cau Giay district, Hanoi belongs to this group. In order to avoid being fired, this IT girl had to take on two jobs of her colleague who was laid off in early 2023. After work, Tu continues to manage a website specializing in selling interior products, hoping to maintain an income of 15 million a month.

Working at high intensity, sleeping only 4-5 hours a day makes the young girl always look forward to a long enough vacation to rest, away from the demands of superiors and customers.

AdmitHoliday Click-offThis is a normal psychological state, but Master Le Anh Tu warns that if this feeling persists, it can directly affect the work and health of workers.

Common symptoms are psychological torment and anxiety when unable to complete work close to the holiday. You easily fall behind your colleagues when you are not proactive in handling work. And it directly affects the progress and quality of work, easily losing prestige with superiors, and making it difficult to get promoted.

As for Pham An, constantly shopping for Tet and attending all the year-end gatherings makes the young girl always in a state of "the last minute". Many times An starts to finish work at 1-2am when her boss urges her or customers ask her to send products. This situation lasts for a long time, making her always tired.

While getting caught up in preparing for Tet, Minh Huyen was often criticized by her superiors for being negligent in her work, affecting the progress of the group. Having to prepare for Tet for her family, both her paternal and maternal sides, also made the 38-year-old woman "explode" many times, yelling at her husband and children whenever she felt frustrated.

To improve employee morale and performance, Associate Professor Dr. Do Minh Cuong advises businesses to hold short discussions with employees, sharing ways to manage and arrange time scientifically.

In the last month of the year, it is advisable to create cash or in-kind rewards to help employees feel recognized for their efforts at the end of the year. In addition, the company can organize Tet markets, sports events or year-end parties to create a lively atmosphere, giving people the opportunity to meet instead of spreading out separate parties which are costly and time-consuming. Leaders themselves also need to focus on work, avoiding lethargy spreading to subordinates.

"After all, every Vietnamese person has a mindset towards the traditional Tet holiday because this is an occasion for the whole family to reunite, so negligence is bound to exist. However, workers and businesses should have a harmonious distribution, avoiding negative emotions that affect physical health and work performance," said Mr. Cuong.