Balancing Leave Policies Across Locations: How Do You Manage Different Holiday Schedules?

Balancing Leaves Across Different Locations

We are a technical consultancy company with project offices in different areas. In Location A, within a calendar year, there are 14 government holidays and 24 company holidays. In Location B, there are 30 government holidays and 24 company holidays. In Location C, there are 22 government holidays, all Saturdays are off, and there are 24 company holidays. Sundays are off in all locations.

How can I balance the leaves for different locations?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Dear Amtanna,

It appears that you have confused "employee leave" with "closed holiday." The former is governed by the provisions of the Shops and Establishment Act or Factory Act of the respective state, while the latter falls under the provisions of the festival and national holidays act of the respective state.

In order to streamline the number of days of leave in your company, you need to check the provisions of the Shops and Establishment Act of each state and fulfill the conditions. You may provide more days of leave than stipulated but not less.

While following the provisions of the festival and national holidays act of the respective state, for national holidays like 26th Jan, 1st May, 15th Aug, and 2nd Oct, we don't have any control. These need to be given anyway. However, the declaration of the festival holidays is within the scope of your company. Your company may check the local requirements and declare the state holidays accordingly.

Though India is a country, because of the diversity in cultures, it is a planet in itself. Therefore, your company may not be able to bring 100% similarity in the number of days of leave or the closed holidays. Due to the execution of work in multiple states, you need to declare the state-wise list like the national banks.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Location Registration and Leave Policy

Whether all the locations have different registrations or are under the head office? If the employees of all locations are under HQ, then the leave rule of the establishment is applicable to them; otherwise, the leave would be as per the registrations of that state.

State-wise Leave Rule

Are all the locations A, B & C in one state or different states? The leave rule of HQ should be applicable in the absence of separate registration. You should bring parity in the leave policy of all locations except for the festival holidays. The above clarification is as per my own understanding. Your posting is so confusing to give proper suggestions.

Dear Colleague,

You have stated that your establishment provides 'Technical Consultancy Services' with project offices in different locations. Presumably, you have project offices in different states.

Obviously, yours is not a 'Factory,' and you fall under the purview of the respective State Shop Acts/Rules.

By the way, the Factories Act is not a State Act but a Central Act, and states are authorized to frame appropriate rules for its implementation.

You have apparently mixed up Holidays with Leaves, which are distinct entities under the statute as clarified by my colleagues.

You seem to want to bring uniformity in the matters of Holidays and Leave at project offices. Currently, it is observed that each office has varying quotas, which is perhaps a concern for you.

As this matter is governed by the respective State laws, your options are to comply with the legal provisions or, for the sake of uniformity, provide a better quota of holidays and leaves than the law.

The choice is yours.

Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR and Employee Relations Consultant