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Back to work on Black Friday? You and increasing numbers of people

Getting used to having that Friday after Thanksgiving off work? I am, too, but there’s a sign that corporate America may be rethinking it.

The percentage of American companies that will make Thanksgiving a four-day weekend in 2014 hit a new low, 66 percent, in a survey released in October by the Alexandria-based Society for Human Resources Management.

That’s down from 71 percent this year, and nine points off the high-water mark in 2010, when 75 percent said they would keep workers home. The society’s conducted the survey annually since 2007.

Obviously, practices vary widely by sector. Retail, hospitality and health care workers can generally expect to work on Black Friday, whereas white-collar jobs tend to be scheduled vacation.

Interesting note about how companies handle Thanksgiving Eve: Twice as many companies will close Wednesday (8 percent) than did in the survey’s first year, while roughly 1 in 6 workplaces will close early. That number’s stayed pretty constant.

If there’s any single reason for that, it could be Hanukkah starting the night before Thanksgiving this year.

Each year, the society randomly surveys its membership on how they handle paid holidays and time off. Each year the margin of error has been plus or minus 4 or 5 percent.

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