Get much work done before the holidays? Survey says lots of people do

A new survey has a surprise about pre-holiday productivity — it actually increases for almost one in three.

Accounting staffing firm Accountemps asked 1,000 office workers about how hard they work before a big break like Christmas or New Year's. Almost a third say they, "hit the gas," according to Princeton Branch Manager Nicole Rodeghiero.

"It seems that before a holiday, a lot of people obviously experience a number of different pressures and stresses," she said. "I think that that pressure can motivate some professionals to work faster and work more efficiently."

She adds that because many workers realize we are nearing the year's end and things have to be delivered or finalized of completed, "they find that they are actually more productive the week leading up to a holiday."

Rodeghiero also has some advice for workers and managers as the holiday break draws near: "If you know that there are important projects or things like that that are going to be occurring while you are off, I think that planning ahead is really the most important part of that, and just making sure that if there is a skeleton crew that is covering, that you have conversations with those individuals to make sure that they know what is going to be occurring when you are off."

She says those still working can be provided with contact information — "obviously everybody has emails on their phones these days, to be able to be accessible in the event that something does happen."

The Accountemps survey also found 47 percent see no difference in their pre-holiday productivity, and 22 percent are either somewhat or much less productive.

According to Rodeghiero, the majority of people are most productive earlier in the day. As they get to the afternoon, around 2 to 7 p.m., they tend to become a little bit more distracted and a little less energetic.

"I think that the key is just to be attuned to your most productive times and when possible, schedule a critical task during those hours," she said. "And make sure that you are just allocating specific meetings and deliverables in the earlier part of the day in order to capitalize on the most productive period."

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5.