HR Advice: Winter Break Pay and PTO

We would like to discuss Open Up's upcoming plans to see if we will provide a paid winter break as done in years past, or if we need another option, such as 1 week paid instead of 2, or working through the 'break' period instead. We'd like to understand the implications of choices from an HR standpoint, since this can affect the pay of salaried employees and part-time employees.

Typically, Open Up has provided a 2-week paid vacation (operations and studio are closed, but employees are paid) during December. This has been done for at least the past 2 years. However, the org faced a financial crisis this year and is now considering options, as it doesn't seem feasible to pay for a full two weeks. We don't know how this will affect salaried employees and their expectations, though.

This year, so far, the subject has not come up in a group, and no one has yet asked for the plans. The handbook only lists around 10 holidays that the organization is closed for, including Christmas Day and New Year's Day, so this 2-week period has never been in the handbook.

The handbook also doesn't mention pay related to those holidays listed. All FT employees receive 15 days of PTO per year. PT employees do not have paid time off. PT employees have been paid over the 2-week break period in the past by calculating an average number of hours worked per week based on their past 4 or 6 weeks of work, before the break.

If the org works through the break, the org will also have to figure out what employees would work on during that time, as it is currently run by 5 'leads' working on interim projects through Dec. 19