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Holidays not on the “calendar”
Pattie Hunt Sinacole shares information on floating holidays
Q: I don’t get holidays anymore. We used to have days around other holidays off. For example if the 4th of July fell on a Thursday, we would get Friday off. Now we have these things called floating holidays. Some call them personal holidays. I don’t get it. It feels like we are beginning to make up holidays. How can I tell if these holidays are even real?
A: Many companies offer floating holidays to employees. I have never heard of them being called personal holidays, but I think that is an accurate description. Within most companies, there is usually a published holiday schedule. Somewhere around 10 holidays per calendar year is what we see. The company is often closed on these more commonly known holidays.
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However, some employees may celebrate different holidays. Floating holidays are usually available at the beginning of the calendar year. Usually, an employee is required to request the floating day off in advance and a supervisor approves the day. Full-time employees usually receive pay for the day. Sometimes part-time employees can also request a floating holiday but often it is unpaid.
Employees can use them for holidays like Good Friday, Chinese New Year’s Day, Diwali, Ramadan, Rosh Hashanah, Veteran’s Day or similar. I advise our clients, who offer floating holidays, to interpret and approve these requests with little scrutiny. I recall many years ago, an employee requesting to take Earth Day as a holiday, because the employee led a community-based effort in their hometown focused on cleaning up a local park. While Earth Day is not a religious or cultural holiday, this event was important to this employee. I think it was the right decision to approve this employee’s request to take the day off. The employee was featured in the local paper and the employer was praised as being supportive of the employee’s interest in the community.
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We all have different priorities, interests, cultural and religious celebrations. Sometimes the traditional calendars don’t reflect all of these passions, events or holidays. It is better to err on the side of generosity here versus questioning an employee’s religious or cultural beliefs. Additionally, most employers struggle with staffing during the more commonly celebrated holidays so this may work to a company’s benefit.
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