'Tis the season to be distracted.

• Position: Surveys on the productivity of employees - Survey - Brief article

Between the eggnog lattes and gift exchanges, the distractions at work tend to multiply with the holiday season. It is no surprise then that 44% of executives polled by Accountemps, Menlo Park, Calif., a staffing service for temporary accounting, finance, and bookkeeping professionals, say employees are less productive the week before a major holiday. However, 23% of managers surveyed believe workers are more productive during these times.

"Offices are typically less productive during the holidays than at other times of the year because of the many distractions," according to Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Motivating Employees For Dummies. "This can place pressure on managers and staff to stay focused on critical end-of-quarter and end-of-year projects."

Yet, the opposite also can be true as some workplaces experience a lull in business activity. Messmer suggests employees take advantage of downtime by completing activities that previously were on the backburner and planning ahead for the upcoming year. "Just don't skip the festivities altogether or you will lose...