Looking for some simple ways to buff up your benefits package with more inclusive offerings? Consider expanding your time off options with floating holidays.
What’s a floating holiday? Offered alongside traditional vacation time, floating holidays provide additional paid holiday time that can be used at the employee’s discretion, typically in place of or in addition to standard holiday time. |
What’s the Appeal of a Floating Holiday Policy?
Now that you know what a floating holiday is, let’s take a closer look at how this simple system can improve accessibility, inclusivity, and morale at your organization!
Floating holidays encourage a more inclusive and diverse workplace. When your organization empowers employees to take the time they need to observe their cultural and religious holidays, you are proving in a very real way how much you value them on an individual level.
They offer flexibility and improved work-life balance to employees by allowing them to take the time off when they want or need it. Flexibility continues to rate very high on the must-haves list for job seekers, with a recent survey from Jobvite finding that 49% of employees cited lack of workplace flexibility as the reason they are looking to leave their current positions in 2024.
Flexible and inclusive benefits like floating holidays encourage diversity at your organization. Diverse workforces are 39% more likely to outperform their peers, according to McKinsey.
A well-implemented floating holiday policy can help with schedule coverage. You may have employees who do not want or need to take time off on days you might’ve otherwise closed up shop, such as Christmas. A floating holiday policy may allow you to operate when you might otherwise not have been able to.
Flexible, inclusive benefits are highly appealing to job seekers, making them a great addition to your benefits package if you’re recruiting.
Next, we’ll delve into some specific floating holiday examples.
How Are Employees Using Floating Holidays?
Understanding how a floating holiday might be used will help you to set a clearer policy down the line.
Floating Holiday Examples
In observation of cultural or religious holidays not otherwise covered by the organization.
To lengthen time off around public holidays – turning a three-day weekend into a four-day weekend, for example.
As personal time, for example, for birthdays or anniversaries.
As compensation for a public holiday worked, like New Year’s Day or Memorial Day.
Employees may select non-traditional dates to serve as holidays ahead of time; for example, the Monday after Daylight Savings Time to better adjust to the time change.
What to Consider Before Implementing Floating Holidays
When developing a floating holiday policy, there are a few things you'll want to give some thought to:
1. Floating Holidays vs PTO: Remember, They’re Not the Same!
Your policy should clearly outline the way floating holidays differ from your other PTO offerings, including sick, vacation, bereavement, and paid public holiday time. Let’s consider the differences between the two:
Floating holidays generally cover single days, chosen ahead of time, and are usually more limited in number overall – three to five days a year.
They also do not roll over into the next year if they go unused, while traditional PTO often does.
Traditional PTO, on the other hand, usually involves more time taken at once and greater administrative work and schedule planning as a result.
Depending on your company’s policy, floating holidays may need to be requested much further ahead of time than traditional PTO.
2. Establishing the Absolute Basics
Decide how many floating holidays you'll be offering each year. SHRM estimates that the standard is two to three days, but some organizations offer more.
Determine whether any unused floating holiday time will be paid out at the end of the year.
Take a look at your calendar – make note of any days that cannot be taken and be prepared to explain why to your employees.
3. Clarity is Crucial to a Good Process
Ideally, floating holidays will be less administratively taxing than other forms of paid time off. A clear policy that outlines the entire process will help achieve that.
Here are the questions you'll want to answer:
How far in advance must holiday requests be put in?
How will your employees make those requests? Who do they submit them to?
How long does your administrative team need to process those requests?
How will employees be informed that their request was approved?
Who will be tracking days and how will they manage it?
Who will be managing schedule coverage?
Are there any days in the current calendar year that might have a high volume of requests off? Keep those in mind!
4. Seek Employee Feedback and Make Use of It
As with any benefit, it’s important to seek employee feedback. By staying open and responsive to feedback, you’ll ensure your organization is offering appealing, useful benefits to your people. Not every piece of feedback needs to be implemented, but by listening and responding to your employees' wants and needs, you’ll be taking those inclusive, flexible aspirations a step further.
