Lab company eliminates holiday pay, gets annoyed when only 3 employees cover the holiday: 'They eliminated the only reason people were willing to sacrifice their holidays'

If you want people to work through the holidays, you have to give them the right motivation for it.

Everybody needs a break from their job sometimes, and this is never more important than when a big holiday comes around. Employed or not, most believe this is a time to relax a little and enjoy spending some time with their loved ones. It is hard for any work project to compete with that. 

Nonetheless, some roles have to be performed every day of the year, no matter what. Some companies also simply prefer to be open year-round, and that is something that employees have to accept. This isn't always easy, but more often than not, employers are willing to understand that. They will give some financial incentive for working when almost everybody else with a job is on vacation.

Money will always be the best motivator for the majority of employees, so it is usually fairly effective in ensuring that at least some people will be working the holidays. Take that away, though, and it will be a lot more doubtful whether enough workers will be willing to commit. Why give up that precious time just to be at work like normal?