Why blue-collar employees skip their vacation time, why the holidays and winter hit your crew’s mental health harder than you think, and how manufacturing and construction owners build a shop where every generation can take time off.

Blue-Collar Workforce Series · November 2026 · Brad Herda

It’s November in Wisconsin. Deer camp’s calling, it’s dark by five, and there’s a stack of time-off requests on your desk.

Bill needs the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to drive his mom to an appointment. Aaron wants the week between Christmas and New Year’s; he hasn’t had a full week off since his youngest was born. Joshua wants a Friday, and in the reason box he wrote “mental health day.” You read it twice.

George didn’t ask for anything. He never does. Thirty-four years on the floor, hasn’t missed a day in three, and he’s sitting on more banked vacation than some of your guys have earned.

Which one of those worries you?

My guess is you said Joshua.

Here is the hard truth. It’s George.

The guy who can’t take a day off isn’t your most loyal employee. He’s your single point of failure. And the shop that can’t let people rest in November is the shop that loses them in March.

Why don’t blue-collar employees use their vacation time?

They’re not skipping it because they love the work. They’re worried about falling behind or dumping their work on the guy next to them. That’s a system problem, not a loyalty problem.

Pew Research Center surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. workers in February 2023. Of those who get paid time off, 46 percent take less than they’re offered. Why? Forty-nine percent worry about falling behind. Forty-three percent feel bad about coworkers picking up the slack. And in a FlexJobs survey from August 2025, one in four workers said their manager would discourage them from taking a full week off.

Now walk that onto your floor. Nobody else can run George’s machine, so George doesn’t take vacation. Not because you said no. Because he knows what Monday looks like when he’s gone — scrap, a late order, and a crew that’s mad at him. So he stays, and every young guy in the building watches him stay.

That’s how culture gets built. Not in the handbook. On the floor.

Why are the holidays so hard on your crew’s mental health?

The holidays stack money, family, and grief on top of the shortest, darkest days of the year. And the younger your crew, the harder it hits.

The American Psychiatric Association’s Healthy Minds Poll, released November 18, 2025, found 41 percent of adults expected more holiday stress than the year before, up from 28 percent in 2024. Ages 18 to 34? Forty-nine percent. Sixty-five and up? Twenty-seven. The big drivers: missing someone who’s gone (48 percent), paying for gifts (46 percent), and being lonely (31 percent).

Then the lights go out. A 2022 APA poll found 38 percent of adults say their mood drops in winter. Your first shift drives in dark and drives home dark from now until February.

Here’s what too many owners forget. None of that clocks out at the door. It walks right up to the press with them.

Is mental health a safety issue in construction and manufacturing?

Yes. A worker who’s exhausted, distracted, or hurting is a safety risk, and construction carries one of the heaviest suicide burdens of any industry in the country.

Clayco’s survey of more than 1,000 construction workers, released October 22, 2025, found 64 percent dealt with anxiety or depression in the past year, up from 54 percent in 2024. Forty-five percent said they’re ashamed to talk about it. Insurance Journal’s coverage of the same survey adds the kicker: 80 percent of executives say workers have access to mental health support on the job. Only 61 percent of workers agree.

The owner thinks the door is open. The crew doesn’t see a door.

Now the number nobody wants to say out loud. A NIOSH study published in March 2025 found construction was 7.4 percent of the workforce in 2021 but 17.9 percent of suicide deaths with a reported industry. Nearly 98 percent were men.

I’m not a counselor. But I’ve spent decades on the floor, and I know this much: the guy who never takes a day off, never talks, and is “fine” isn’t always fine. Tough isn’t the same as okay.

Do this today. Put 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, on the breakroom board, right next to your EAP number. Call or text, 24/7. It costs you a piece of tape.

Does each generation handle time off differently?

Yes. George wears “never missed a day” like a badge. Bill is squeezed between kids and aging parents. Aaron and Joshua will walk away from a job that burns them out.

George came up when perfect attendance got a plaque on the wall. He’s right that showing up matters. He’s wrong that rest is weakness.

Bill’s in the squeeze. In a June 2026 Zety survey of 1,003 Gen X workers, reported by HR Dive, 54 percent said caregiving leaves them stressed and burned out, and 22 percent put in more than 16 hours a week caring for family. (Zety sells resume tools, so call it a poll, not a study.) Thanksgiving week isn’t vacation for Bill. It’s a second shift at home.

Aaron and Joshua tell you exactly where the line is. Deloitte’s 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, released May 13, 2026, found stress and burnout is the number one reason they hold back from leadership — 50 percent of Gen Z, 49 percent of Millennials.

So when Joshua writes “mental health day” on the form, he’s not soft. He’s honest. He’s telling you what George never will. And Parker, the Gen Alpha kid who starts in a couple of years, will walk in expecting that honesty to be normal.

How do you give your crew time off without the shop falling apart?

Build the bench before you need it. The HERDA System defines what winning looks like in every role and puts two qualified people on every critical task. The HERDA Wage System pays people for training their own backup.

Think football this time of year. Nobody expects the starting running back to take every snap. He comes off for a series, the backup goes in, and the offense keeps moving. Why? The coach built the depth chart in August, not on the sideline in the fourth quarter.

Too many shops don’t have a depth chart. They have George. And hope is not a plan.

Define what winning looks like. The HERDA System™ (High-Engagement Results & Department Alignment) is a results-first operating framework for manufacturing, construction, and skilled-trades companies with 35 to 200 direct-labor employees. It defines every role by measurable results, not hours in the building, so supervisors manage to results, not personalities. Two people qualified on every critical task is one of those results. Now vacation season is your fire drill; you find the holes while George is still around to fill them.

Pay for the bench. The HERDA Wage System is a three-part pay formula — Production 50 percent, Tenure 25 percent, Wisdom 25 percent — that places each person inside a market wage band. Two Wisdom scores carry the load here: Teaching & Mentoring (Knowledge Hoarder to Legacy Builder) and Versatility (Single Point Failure to Swiss Army Operator). The guy who trains his backup earns more, not less. That kills the oldest fear on the floor: “Teach the kid, and I’m replaceable.”

Put rest on the board. Get everybody’s holiday dates now, not the week before. Then walk George to the calendar yourself, tell him you want him gone for a full week before year-end, and watch who steps up.

Want the deeper cut? Read Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz. He dares owners to take a four-week vacation and build a business that runs without them. Same idea works for every seat on your floor.

Your challenge this week: the Holiday Coverage Test

Grab your roster. One point for every yes.

1. Has everybody on your crew used at least half their vacation this year?
2. Are two people qualified on every critical task — George’s included?
3. Could your most senior person take a full week in December without one call from the shop?
4. Does your pay reward the people who train their own backup?
5. Is 988 or your EAP number posted where your crew sees it, and have you said out loud that it’s okay to use it?

4–5: You’ve built a bench. Go enjoy your own holiday.

2–3: You’re running on goodwill. Goodwill runs out in February.

0–1: You don’t have a staffing plan. You have George. Pick one critical task and start training the backup before Thanksgiving.

Habits equal results — decide accordingly.

So what is the cost of the guy who never takes a day off? And who on your crew hasn’t had a real day off this year?

Quick answers

Why don’t employees take all their paid time off?

Pew Research Center (February 2023) found 46 percent of U.S. workers with paid time off take less than they’re offered; 49 percent of them worry about falling behind and 43 percent feel bad about coworkers covering. In blue-collar shops, the bigger reason is often that nobody else is trained to do the job.

Are the holidays more stressful for workers this year?

Yes. The APA Healthy Minds Poll (November 18, 2025) found 41 percent of U.S. adults expected more holiday stress than the year before, up from 28 percent, and 49 percent of adults 18 to 34.

What is the HERDA System?

A results-first operating framework from Brad Herda for manufacturing, construction, and skilled-trades companies with 35 to 200 direct-labor employees. HERDA stands for High-Engagement Results & Department Alignment. It defines what winning looks like in every role so supervisors manage to results, not personalities.

What is the HERDA Wage System?

A three-part pay formula (Production 50 percent, Tenure 25 percent, Wisdom 25 percent) that places each employee inside a market wage band. Its Wisdom score rewards teaching, versatility, and error prevention, so the people who build the bench get paid for it.

Tell me what breaks. Drop a comment: what’s the one job in your shop that stops cold the week one person takes vacation? My guess is half of you name the same machine.

Tell me your number. Run the Holiday Coverage Test and reply with your score, 0 to 5. I read every one, and I’ll tell you straight where to start.

Then let’s dig into it. Thirty minutes, no charge, no slide deck. We walk your roster, find your single points of failure, and map the first two backups to train before year-end. Email bherda@focalpointcoaching.com or go to vfbsolutions.com.

Bring Brad to your event. My keynote “We Grew Up Different” hands associations, leadership groups, and industry conferences a no-fluff framework for leading a five-generation workforce. bradherda.com.

When this topic is of interest to you, invite me to talk about it in greater detail.

About the author. Brad Herda is The Blue-Collar Business Guy — a business coach, keynote speaker, and consultant in Sussex, Wisconsin, working with family-owned manufacturing, construction, and skilled-trades companies through Vision Forward Business Solutions and FocalPoint Coaching. He created the HERDA System™ and the HERDA Wage System, co-hosts the Blue-Collar BS Podcast, and delivers the keynote “We Grew Up Different.”

Sources

1. Pew Research Center, “46% of U.S. workers don’t use all their paid time off” (Aug. 10, 2023) — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/10/more-than-4-in-10-u-s-workers-dont-take-all-their-paid-time-off/
2. FlexJobs, 2025 Work & PTO Pressure Report (survey Aug. 2025, n=3,063) — https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/pto-statistics
3. American Psychiatric Association, Healthy Minds Poll: “Americans More Anxious About the Holidays” (Nov. 18, 2025) — https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/americans-more-anxious-about-the-holidays
4. American Psychiatric Association, “New APA Poll Finds Americans’ Mood Declines in Winter” (Nov. 3, 2022) — https://www.psychiatry.org/News-room/News-Releases/New-APA-Poll-Finds-Americans-Mood-Declines-Winter
5. Clayco, construction workforce mental health survey (Oct. 22, 2025) — https://claycorp.com/latest/six-in-10-construction-workers-experience-anxiety-and-depression-executives-acknowledge-those-who-seek-help-often-face-stigma-discrimination
6. Insurance Journal, “6 in 10 Construction Workers Report Anxiety, Depression in Past Year” (Nov. 3, 2025) — https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2025/11/03/846051.htm
7. NIOSH / CDC, “Suicides Among Construction Workers in the United States, 2021,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine (March 2025) — https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208219
8. HR Dive, “Gen X employees say they are burned out from caregiving responsibilities” (Aug. 6, 2026) — https://www.hrdive.com/news/gen-x-employees-say-they-are-burned-out-from-caregiving-responsibilities/827194/
9. Zety, Gen X Caregiving Report (July 2026) — https://zety.com/blog/gen-x-caregiving-report
10. Deloitte, 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey (May 13, 2026) — https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/about/press-room/deloitte-2026-gen-z-and-millennial-survey.html
11. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — https://988lifeline.org