From Summer Barbecues to Boxing Day, How MSP Teams Experience Christmas Worldwide
One of the unexpected benefits of that perspective is seeing how the same holiday season creates very different operational rhythms. Christmas looks very different depending on where your MSP operates, and that difference says a lot about culture, Team expectations, and how work actually gets done during the holidays. At Advanced Global, we spend our days inside the operational reality of MSPs around the world, especially those running Autotask.
This is not a feel-good holiday post. It is a look at how MSP Teams across regions approach Christmas, why those choices matter, and what MSP owners can learn from them when it comes to planning, capacity, and leadership.
Global MSP Holiday Operations and Cultural Context
For MSP Owners, holidays are not just time off. They expose cracks in coverage models, ticket workflows, escalation paths, and Client expectations. Christmas amplifies those realities.
Across every region we work with, Christmas becomes a forcing function. It reveals how well your systems run without you, how prepared your Team is to operate asynchronously, and whether your PSA is supporting the business or working against it.
Industry data reinforces this reality. The Kaseya 2024 MSP Benchmark Survey found that over 60 percent of MSP professionals still work during holidays or weekends. That number barely moved year over year, which tells us something important, most MSPs are still relying on people, not process, to hold things together when the calendar gets tight.
What changes from region to region is how openly MSPs plan for that reality.
Christmas in Australia, Summer, Shutdowns, and Smart Planning
In Australia, Christmas lands in the middle of summer. Schools are out, families travel, and entire industries slow down or stop altogether. For many Australian MSPs, December is not about squeezing in last minute projects. It is about controlled deceleration.
Operationally, Australian MSP Teams tend to:
Schedule preventive maintenance while Clients are offline
Bundle renewals and true ups ahead of December
Communicate holiday coverage expectations early
Because Clients expect slower response times during this period, MSPs are able to plan maintenance windows without friction. The lesson here is not about geography. It is about expectation management. When Clients understand the rhythm, operations get easier.
New Zealand MSP Teams and the Power of Extended Breaks
New Zealand follows a similar summer pattern but often takes it further. Many businesses close or operate at reduced capacity well into mid-January. That creates space for MSPs to step back without chaos.
What stands out operationally is how intentional New Zealand MSPs are about relationships. Smaller markets and close-knit business communities mean personalization matters.
Common practices include:
Handwritten Client cards
Personalized holiday messaging
Planned upgrade cycles during extended closures
From an operational maturity standpoint, these MSPs rely heavily on documented processes and clear escalation paths. You cannot disappear for three weeks unless your systems actually work.
European MSP Holiday Schedules, Compliance, and Localization
Europe is where Christmas becomes operationally complex. There is no single European holiday calendar. Some countries slow down in late November, others run through Epiphany in January. Add multiple languages, regulations, and cultural norms, and MSP operations require real planning.
European MSP Teams often use the holiday period to focus on:
Infrastructure upgrades during full Client shutdowns
GDPR reviews and security audits
Localized Client communications in native languages
Unlike North America, generic holiday messaging does not land well. European Clients expect cultural awareness. Operationally, this forces MSPs to tighten segmentation inside their PSA and CRM systems.
For Autotask users, this usually exposes how messy account structures really are.
South American MSPs, Family First and Long Holiday Cycles
In South America, Christmas is deeply tied to family, religion, and community. Celebrations often begin early December and extend through Epiphany in January. Offices close. Teams disconnect.
This creates two operational realities:
MSPs must automate aggressively
Monitoring and alerting must be reliable without human intervention
Many South American MSPs lean into remote monitoring, automation, and preventive maintenance because there simply is not appetite for emergency work during the holidays. Clients respect that boundary.
There is also a stronger emphasis on community involvement, charity, and local events. While that may sound soft, it directly impacts retention and long-term Client trust.
North American MSP Christmas Culture, Short Breaks and Full Plates
North America is the outlier. Most MSPs close for a day or two, maybe a week at best. Everything else continues.
December becomes a strange mix of:
Year-end projects
Budget resets
Security reviews
Office parties
Operationally, this often leads to burnout. MSP Owners try to do planning, delivery, and leadership all at once. Teams feel the pressure, and holiday coverage becomes reactive instead of structured.
This strain shows up clearly in workforce data. Studies cited by Modern Health report that more than half of employees find the holiday season to be the most draining time of the year, largely due to the inability to truly disconnect. In MSPs, that lack of disconnect almost always traces back to unclear coverage models and manual workflows.
This is where underutilized Autotask configurations hurt the most. Poor queue design, unclear on call rotations, and manual scheduling compound stress at the worst possible time.
Why MSP Teams Celebrate Christmas Everywhere
Despite the regional differences, MSPs across the globe celebrate Christmas for the same core reasons.
Cultural Tradition in the MSP Industry
Christmas is deeply embedded in Western business culture. Even in regions where it is less religious, it remains a shared pause point. Ignoring it creates friction with both Clients and Teams.
Team Morale and Retention
Time off matters. Recognition matters. MSPs that treat Christmas as an operational inconvenience rather than a leadership opportunity tend to struggle with retention.
Strong MSPs use the season to:
Acknowledge Team contributions
Reduce cognitive load through clear coverage
Reinforce trust and autonomy
Client Expectations and Relationship Management
Clients expect acknowledgment. Not promotions, not gimmicks, just recognition that there are humans behind the service. This is where MSPs either reinforce partnership or feel transactional.
Year End Operational Reflection
December forces reflection. Capacity issues become obvious. Process gaps surface. Autotask dashboards either tell the truth or hide it.
This is not celebration, but it is necessary.
What MSP Owners Should Take Away from Global Christmas Practices
The real lesson is not about holidays. It is about intentional operations.
MSPs that plan for Christmas well tend to:
Document processes thoroughly
Trust their Teams to execute
Configure their PSA to support reality, not theory
At Advanced Global, we see this every year. The MSPs that enjoy the holidays are rarely the biggest. They are the most operationally disciplined.
From all of us at Advanced Global, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Enjoy the time, reflect honestly, and come back ready to fix what December exposed.
Looking forward to hearing from you – IN THE NEW Year!
Thanks for 2025 and following us throughout the year.