When everyone handles the holidays a bit differently, why are we beholden to the holidays of old?
Every where I work is a musical chairs of observed holidays. Some places lean hard in the end of year holidays. Some observe summer holidays like Juneteenth and take from the end of the year.
The workforce is a melting pot. Company holidays aren’t.
My latest company has a large contingent of employees from other countries with their own traditions.
Recently, a number of my colleagues took PTO for a few weeks, to celebrate their traditional holiday. This still had an impact on our ability to deliver, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. I mean that to say, if a large swath of people want to take time off with their families, we should support a system that allows them to use that time wisely.
Creating a bucket for “holiday” time
Maybe we should just create 10 holiday days that folks can use when they would like. These days need to be used in the calendar year.
Want extra time off around your holiday? Use your earned time or use some of your holiday time during that period to get the time you need to celebrate.
You can even use one giant bucket of PTO time which you are required to use in a calendar year.