Employee Benefit For Extra Work (Saturday & Other Holida

Hi all,

I am associated with a software development firm as HR. We work for 5 days a week. As we all know, due to the urgency of project completion, at times employees need to come in on Saturdays or other holidays, which is a common practice in the industry. For that, we provide an extra leave, give a day's basic pay, and offer some allowance for conveyance and lunch. We are going to change this policy soon as we think there is no need to give a day's basic if an extra leave is provided, and vice versa. Can you please tell us what policies your company follows?

Thanks in advance,

Sunetra

15 views and still no replies. Don't you people have to arrange for extra workings in your company, kya? 😢

Hi,

If you are already giving the Comp-Off, then there is no need to pay basic. Most of the software industries are following the same thing. So, go ahead and you can change the policy.

Thanks,
Manish

"Those who are working late hours and on holidays are not efficient and competent. So, try to give up this practice.

Purshottam Saini"

The software industry, per se, is not regulated by any labor law in India. It is not a factory but could be cited as an establishment under the Shops and Establishment Act. Forget about what other people are doing since you will not be able to cite another company's practices as an excuse. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse; this is what we first learn as HR professionals.

Coming to the point that you have a query on, in a situation where you give one day leave, there is nothing additional that you have to pay. A person can work 48 hours in a week and not more than that. One day leave after six continuous days of work is all that the law says.

Take care.

Thank you, Amit, for your valuable comments. In response to your comment on the "ignorance of law," let me tell you something. Many policies that companies follow are not explicitly stated in any rulebook. However, we adhere to these policies to avoid any confusion or discrepancies. I am not inquiring about what is "legal" or "not legal." As an HR professional, it is my duty to consider the best interests of both the employees and the employer. Regarding your comment about "citing another company's practices as an excuse," that is not my intention. It is merely a query to broaden my understanding of best practices in the industry. I believe I have clarified what I am seeking this time. I do not think it is constructive to be harsh in an open discussion forum like this one. Let us approach problems and queries from our forum members with more patience. What do you say?

Thank you,
Sunetra

Hi Sunetra,

Usually, in our company, we have 8 1/2 hours as working hours. Those who work less than 4 hours (that is 8 1/2 + 4) will not be given Comp off or one day's salary for Administrative staff. For other staff, it will be applicable. Anyone of the same. It depends on the wish of the employee. So you can change your rule. I hope that you can pay one day's salary only; no need for any other benefits.

Sirisha.

Hi Sunetra,

In our organization, we compensate employees by giving them a day's pay (calculated by dividing Gross Monthly Pay by 30).

Regards,
Gulu

Hello Sunetra,

In our company, employees are allowed either extra leave or payment equal to their daily basic salary. Both conveyance and meal allowances are entitled for both categories. However, to be eligible for these benefits, each employee has to work for a minimum prescribed duration.

Thanks,
Jahir
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: Muhdin@gmail.com

You need to pay for the lunch if possible. TA (TA not mandatory) but I advise you to pay for lunch, not the day because you're giving a day off for the day they are working.

Pay for Lunch: Rather than paying, you should arrange a special lunch for all employees who attended. This would be great, I suppose.

Regards,
S CH
Srivanth

Hi Sunetra,

All is up to you. You can make a policy that for 8 hours working on holidays will be compensated with a leave. I don't think there is any need to give extra allowances. Of course, as a compliment, you can offer a working lunch for those who are coming on holidays. This is the usual procedure most of the companies follow.

Let us see what others say.

Regards,
Sree

Thanks Muhdin, Srivanth, and Sree. We give a half-day leave and basic pay for half a day for more than 4 hours of work, and a full-day leave and one day's basic pay for more than 7 hours of work. Other than that, we give Rs. 200 as conveyance and generally arrange for lunch. This policy was created by our previous HR and has been followed for the last 2 years. We have now realized that we are paying twice through this method, by crediting earned leave and also providing basic pay. Therefore, we will now either offer the leave or pay the basic amount, which needs to be decided.

Thanks to all for your suggestions.

Sunetra :)

Both methods of compensation are okay. You can give compensatory time off or compensate through cash. However, if you choose to pay in cash, you must include Basic + all other allowances as indicated in his/her letter (such as Basic + DA + Special + ...).

Regards,
Bala

Sunetra,

The system that we follow is that in the event an employee is required to work on a holiday, the employee is given monetary compensation of Rs. 500/-. Holiday monetary compensation is to be awarded only to those employees who are required to be on the job and performing authorized work. A flat sum ensures that there is no extra admin overhead.

Cheers! Madhuri

Thank you, Sunetra, for the valuable suggestion. I come from an Industrial Relations background; hence, soft speaking skills have not been my forte, be it in the labor court or in a forum. Since, as a practice, IR relies on facts, I hope that resolves the matter. Take care, all the best.

Either leave or pay, not both together.

Lunch to be provided.

TA not required.

Allow some time for the members to respond. Please be patient.

Dear Peer,

I know you are an active member. Thanks for your reply. But, sorry to mention, I did not get why you have advised me to "be patient." Is that because after my first post, I asked twice for the members to reply? Actually, I had some urgency in reporting to the CEO. Another reason is that without replies, generally, the posts do not remain on the first page, and most of the members (who have valuable suggestions to give) miss the question. Once the members started responding, did you notice any lack of patience from my side?

Hi Sunetra,

I agree with the views put forward by all the other members of the community so I have nothing more to add to this, except that you are curtailing a particular benefit that you used to offer to the employees prior to this, so please educate them on the same or at least have a discussion with them before actually implementing it. They have been enjoying these extra benefits for the last 2 years, so some of them might not take this decision in good spirit.

I hope my suggestion helps you implement the new policy.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Hi,

If you work on holidays, you either have to pay double the amount (like overtime pay) or give compensatory time off. Giving basic pay along with leave is not the right approach from a management point of view, as your pay then holds no meaning. Work on Sundays and provide time off on festival days or other designated days.

Truly Yours, Kumar.H.P

Hi Sir,

Okay, I have seen the views given by different HRs.

When it comes to following the practice, it depends on the size of the company and the field in which the company is working. I will tell you by example. If it is a small company, almost every employee knows the other, and in such a case, when you apply a certain policy or make it effective, it will be a "change." Change is something that takes time to resolve, and meanwhile, you should not lose the productivity and motivation. Well, there are other things also related to diagnostics.

But to come to the asked query, I would say, either there could be a comp off or extra pay, not both at the same time. Comp off is a decent practice because economics starts with the punchline "Human wants are unlimited," and by paying the extra buck means nobody will be satisfied in the long term because employees will hope to get an extra amount augmented to this for extra efforts.

But what you can do is check the employees who are putting extra efforts for your company, and they can be taken care of at the time of appraisal or awards and recognition.

Regards,

Tikam - Pune

16 Nov 07

Hi Sunetra,

This is Jyothi. I am working as an HR manager in a medium-sized organization consisting of 60 employees. Sundays and holidays are considered as overtime at 1.5 times their daily salary in hours.

Thank you.

Jyothi

Thanks, Kumar, Indrani, and Tikam for your valuable suggestions. I completely agree with Indrani and Tikam. As the employees have enjoyed this benefit for the last 2 years, it will be really difficult to implement a new policy regarding this and giving any one option - leave or pay. I have decided to sit in a discussion with the employees regarding the same and hope they take the change in a good spirit. But at the same time, I am worried about the same, as these are the situations where the comparison comes about the employee-friendly policies made by the 2 HRs.

Cheers,
Sunetra

Dear Site Members,

First of all, employees are responsible for completing assigned tasks on time. If not, the primary cause of deviation is the employees themselves. So, to complete the work, they need to work outside of office hours. Then, what is the need for paying extra amounts?

According to our company norms, we will only arrange regular food facilities.

Express your comments.

Regards,
Venkatesh.

Hi Sunetra,

I think you have to choose between granting either a day off or providing extra pay for working additional hours. It is not necessary to offer both for working an extra day.

Regards,
9deep 8)

Hi Sunetra,

Very valuable suggestions given by members. I think you would have made up your mind by now. I want to give two more inputs which you need to think about:

1. Since your people are used to getting the double benefit in the past, how are you going to convince them to cut down the same now suddenly? Please manage that part smoothly.

2. If you are going to give only one type of benefit, i.e., Pay/Leave, just think before you decide on which one:
- Like, is your company cash-rich or manpower-rich? Which is more beneficial to you as a company?
- Which is more beneficial to the employees: day off or pay?

So think on these aspects before you take a decision. All the best.

Riyaz

Either one-day salary (if calculated as overtime allowance = Basic X 2) or compensatory off. If actual conveyance or lunch allowance is paid based on attendance, the same may be added. Legal or not legal is not an issue; be practical if you need to extract extra work with the same manpower. That too is not always as it seems per your query.

What I can suggest is that you need to give a basic day's compensation for conveyance without providing an extra day off. There is no rule mandating that every software company must operate only for 5 days. Therefore, please proceed with your policies.

Regards,
Ali Khan