But when numerous workers now have to deliver on the promise to bosses of "having it done before Christmas," a certain kind of madness now sets the scene in many workplaces.

The lead-up to the Christmas season is widely considered to be the most stressful in the working calendar.

According to a HR Magazine UK study, 73 per cent of workers are worried that work deadlines will ruin their break, and a further 23 per cent are concerned that their Christmas would be plagued by thinking about work.

Furthermore, a study commissioned by Leadership Management Australasia showed that productivity levels can reduce by up to 38 per cent as employees are distracted by events relating to the silly season.

Unfortunately, many companies also plan redundancy strategies at this time of year so they can begin 2015 with the "correct" headcount to ensure profit targets are met.  Job security becomes an added stress on top of the financial, family and added workload pressures.

So what can we do to mitigate the stresses of the holiday season?

Well,  rethinking why we go to work is a good place to start.  Outgoing Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly says she has met immensely successful people and yet they are deeply unhappy.

"They have no interests, they've lost sight of who they are, their spirituality, their inner person," she said.

In the lead-up to and during the Christmas season, many take time to reflect on the meaning and purpose in their lives, and decide to change direction, or decide to take a simple approach and offload things, or take a less stressful job.

Wayne Dyer, author of The Shift: Taking Your Life from Ambition to Meaning, says that at some point we need to commit to living a life of meaning and purpose, rather than the never-ending demands and false-promises of our earlier career-life.  Failure to do so will create a crisis or artificial "hanging on to the past" which does not serve us best.

Taking time out over Christmas seems to be fast-fading into the distant memory of many employees.  The 24/7 demands, and the fact that companies with northern hemisphere headquarters don't take as much time off as Australians do, make it increasingly difficult to get a well-earned break.

But those who have the courage to do so will be well rewarded.

Juliet Batten, author of Growing into Wisdom: Change and Transformation at Midlife, says that we need to take this important time out to enter into a "sacred space".  During the year, she says, we are so bombarded with information and activity, that "our minds begin to choke, our bodies slump, and our breathing becomes shallow".

Re-charging the batteries is a way to regain a sense of sanity again, and re-think where we are going and what we are doing.  Is the life we are leading aligned to our values?  What is really most important to us?

Warren Frehse is a career transition coach and workplace behavioural consultant. He is author of Manage Your Own Career: Reinvent Your Job; Reinvent Yourself and professional member of the Career Development Association of Australia and Australian Human Resources Institute.