When you’re stuck working during the Christmas holidays, you have to take your lumps — coal or otherwise.

Even if you don’t do much for Christmas or ignore it completely, the holidays can be harrowing. Co-workers and friends are often stressed out, your children might need extra care because they’re off school, you might feel obligated to attend holiday parties (work-related or not) and your workload might increase because so many colleagues either take vacations or call in sick with the holiday shopping flu or holiday party hangover.

That may help to explain why two-thirds of full-time workers nationwide say they have experienced workplace stress around the holidays, according to a recent random sampling of 600 full-time workers for Accenture HR Services. Nearly one-quarter of the workers surveyed also said they have taken at least one day off in the past because of holiday stress.

As for the major causes of holiday stress, 54 percent of respondents cited finding the time to shop for gifts, while 41 percent mentioned the need to keep up with day-to-day work responsibilities. Other factors mentioned include spending time with family and friends, 35 percent; balancing a manager’s expectations against the employee’s needs, 28 percent; and preparing for household guests, 26 percent.

Workplace stress is such a big factor during the course of a normal year that 37 percent of the people surveyed said that at some point they have considered quitting their jobs because of stress.

As the stress grows more acute now that most students are on vacation and Christmas less than week away, employers might want to consider some suggestions made by workers to ease the stress.

No, the mentioned weren’t greedy. Only 1 percent mentioned holiday bonuses, and apparently nobody asked for a cubicle lined with gold.

But 54 percent did say that allowing flexible hours would help. Other items include being sensitive to work/life balance, 44 percent; allowing vacation or time off, 37 percent; being understanding about personal commitments, 34 percent; organizing holiday activities among employees, 27 percent; and allowing telecommuting, 26 percent.

In other words, don’t be a work-obsessed boss. Realize that there are other things in life, and that you’ll run into trouble if you make people choose between work and family traditions.

Brenda Dwyer, an Accenture manager who is in charge of helping to advise employers about personnel issues, suggests that more companies allow people to take time off as long as the holiday workload isn’t heavy. At the same time, she added, companies also need to make sure there are adequate backups, so the employees won’t have to worry that clients are being neglected or that a pile of extra duties will await them on their return.

She said a more general tip is to have employee assistance programs in place, or at least provide brochures that tell workers where they can go for help if they are feeling stressed. Tell employees frequently where they can find those items, she said, such as providing a phone number or Web address so they don’t feel the awkwardness of having to ask someone in Human Resources where to get the help.

My two cents: Employee assistance counseling is one time in particular when it pays to use an outside firm. People can be intimidated about asking for help from any human resources people if they are afraid their managers will find out, and using an outside firm offers can make workers feel more secure about confidentiality.

Dwyer suggested that employees will be able to help themselves in future years by planning ahead so that they can do some errands earlier, such as shopping before the malls get mobbed and addressing holiday cards.

She also urges that people examine holiday traditions to see whether any add more stress than they are worth. In her own family, for example, members agreed they would stop exchanging gifts with distant relatives, deciding instead to put that money and effort into having more family gatherings at different people’s homes throughout the year.