Balancing Religious Holiday Needs in a Diverse Workplace: How Would You Handle This?

Respected seniors and my dear colleagues,

I will be very grateful to you if you can answer certain queries regarding holidays declared for religious festivals. I work as an HR executive for a medium/small-sized IT firm. Initially, we had only Hindu staff in our office, so we declared holidays on occasions like Holi and Diwali. However, we recently recruited three Muslim employees who will require leave during Muslim festivals such as Eid and Muharram. The management is reluctant to increase the total number of holidays provided.

One potential solution I have considered is allowing the Muslim employees to take a holiday for Eid or Muharram and work on Diwali to make up for the missed day. However, in this scenario, a member of the management team would need to be present in the office on Diwali.

I am in a dilemma. Could you please suggest an alternative approach for this situation?

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Hello,

In a factory situation, such substitutions as you are thinking of may not be possible due to certain provisions of the Factories Act (particularly Sec. 51 onwards in that chapter).

In a shop and commercial establishment situation, this may also be difficult. So what one can perhaps think of is to choose one of the following alternatives:

1) Change the mix of the present set of paid holidays through discussions with affected employees. They should agree as we are a cosmopolitan society and we respect (or should respect) different religions, beliefs, customs, and be accommodative of all.

2) If this does not work out, declare each year a given number of holidays and rule that employees are free to utilize only the number of holidays they are entitled to. This way the establishment will remain open on all days (which is beneficial to the organization), and people will stay away on the days of their choice, limited by their entitlement.

3) I hate to say this, but until the issue is finally amicably resolved, the new joiners (non-Hindus) may avail their religious holidays and make up the time by working extra hours on other workdays (like two hours a day, for example!).

But the situation needs a lot of tact. We cannot have in the industry paid holidays carved out for each religion, and in any case, 26th January, 1st May, and 15th August are devoid of any connection with any religion! We have to promote such a culture but only tactfully!

Regards,

Samvedan

February 4, 2008

Dear Mr. Samvedan,

Thank you so much for your valuable suggestion. I agree with you that it would be very unfair to ask the non-Hindu staff to work extra hours and compensate for the leave they have taken for Id or Muharram. I am concerned that they may even reject this proposal. I believe I need to request Management to reduce one holiday during Diwali and add it to Muharram or provide at least one extra holiday on Id. I anticipate that this will be a very sensitive issue to handle, and I only have time until Friday to resolve it or come up with a suggestion. Thank you for your support.

Best Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Hello Indra,

It would be good if you could ensure that the management follows the declared holidays by the Union Government and informs all employees in the company accordingly. This practice will help in avoiding conflicts and resolving issues effectively.

From,
Valbooj

Dear Mr. Valbooj,

Thank you so much for your valuable suggestion. As I have mentioned earlier in my post, ours is a small organization, and hence, holidays are not as per the rule book. We have declared 10 holidays in total. Management is not willing to give more than 10 holidays, and that is the problem.

Thank you very much for your support.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrtani Chakraborty

Dear Ms. Suri,

Your reply definitely shows that you have worked for small companies in the past. Thank you for understanding my problem and for your valuable suggestion. I will definitely try it out.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Dear Idrani,

I have worked in small as well as in big companies. I have never seen holidays on Muslim festivals anywhere. The reason behind it may be that none of the management personnel were Muslim, or very few, maybe one or two, or perhaps less than five employees were Muslims. Therefore, a better option would be to consider only one major Muslim festival in your holiday list and remove one less important festival, either for Sikhs or Hindus.

There are no specific rules for the consideration or non-consideration of holidays in private organizations. It all depends on the employees and employers.

Regards,
Sangeeta Suri

I suggest a practice which is followed by PSUs:

1. National Holidays - enforceable by law (i.e., 26 Jan, 15 Aug, and 2nd Oct).
2. Gazetted Holidays - include major festivals limited to 12 numbers. Decided by collective employee representatives/groups. The list may vary from unit to unit.
3. Restricted Holidays - include all minor festivals. The list may reach up to 30 or more. Any employee is free to opt for any two days out of the list. Leave application/notice may be submitted three days earlier.

Based on this pattern, you can create two lists of notified and optional holidays. Employees will have the option to choose from these lists.

Regards,

Arvind Singh
09873933436

Hi Unusual Indu,

How many people are there in the Muslim community? Are you declaring for Christmas? What are the other religions you have inside? Study all.

If it is predominantly Hindu, say 90%, you may have no other option. We are not a government organization to provide facilities for the minority group. Suppose you have, say, 20 to 30 percent population as Muslims, you won't be consulting us. You would have declared a holiday. If it is less, even a Restricted Holiday will not help.

Do you have other religions? If so, then talk to your management and add one restricted holiday. That will be much better. My further recommendation depends on your statistics. How many people from other religions in your organization?

Siva

Hi Indrani,

I guess you have received valuable suggestions from the forum members. In an organization, you have to cater to the needs and sentiments of all employees and their customs. I think what you said in one of the posts, that reducing one day of a holiday which you feel can be done and adding the required holiday will serve the purpose. Also, are there any casual leave days apart from these 10 holidays? If yes, people can utilize these leaves on the day they feel is important to them.

In my organization, there are 14 pre-decided holidays, 15 casual leaves, and you can take a leave on your birthday too!!

Regards,
Anuradha

Dear Ms. Anuradha,

Thank you for your valuable comments. In our organization, employees are entitled to one casual leave for each completed month of service, which amounts to 12 casual leaves in a year.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Respected Siva Sir,

There are 20 people in our office, out of which 1 is Catholic, 3 are Muslim, and the rest are Hindus. This is the present statistics. I believe 1 restricted holiday can be a good option.

I know this is not a government organization, but still, as an HR professional, I have to respect the religious sentiments of the non-Hindus too. I understand it is very difficult for the management to provide more holidays as we have strict project deadlines to meet, and as usual, as an HR professional, I am caught in the middle. Thank God we have people like you on CiteHR :D.

Thank you for your valuable suggestion.

Warm Regards,

Indrani Chakraborty

Hi Indu,

I completely agree with Arvind's proposal. We had a similar issue, and opting to go along the lines of PSU offs would be the best thing to do. In such a case, only a memo has to be issued wherein you inform the employees that you would be practicing the procedures of PSU's holiday schemes. However, a lot of work will have to be put in to segregate the holidays for each section.

Thanks & Regards,
AJ

Hi Indu,

I believe the issue has become bigger than it should be. Remember, when you have the meeting with the team, don't call them to discuss the issues. Instead, present them with options and ask for their agreement. Chart out two or three options and discuss them. Avoid making it an open discussion; otherwise, a solution may never be found. As the HR person, I completely agree with you that you are responsible for finding and implementing a solution. The fact that you have been tasked with addressing the situation shows that management respects you.

Good luck.

Thanks & Regards,
AJ

As there is one solution, Indrani, do one thing: call the heads of the different communities (employees working in your organization). Make them sit with the management and have the parties discuss the issue of leaves (based on the conditions prescribed by the top management). You can definitely solve the issue.

From Valbooj

Dear Mr. Valbooj,

If I follow your suggestion, then management is going to say, "Why did I hire an HR executive if I have to sit and sort the issues?" Keeping in mind all the suggestions poured in by members like you, tomorrow I am going to call a team meeting and sort out this issue. Once the decision has been taken, I will post an update on this discussion to let you know.

Thank you for your valuable time and suggestion. Keep posting.

Best Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

These are critical issues that need to be addressed by the management responsible for creating the policy. The HR Executive's role is that of an implementer who can provide suggestions and help solve minor problems, but this particular issue is too significant to be solely managed by them. Instead of relying solely on management, consider involving the heads of different communities to discuss and create a draft that aligns with the management's guidelines. Proceed as discussed. Hopefully, they will collaborate and accept the management's decisions.

From,
Valbooj.

It is a very simple issue which you are facing, just some common sense.

I am working in a Central Govt Organisation, and most of the time I observe that the holidays applicable to state govt employees are not applicable to us. So many times when there are holidays wherein the state govt depts are not working, we are working. These festivals are related and subjected to that particular state only. Hence, being a festival of only a particular community, state, and not being a major Indian festival, these holidays are not considered by the central govt.

FOR EXAMPLE:

So now the issue arises, what will the Maharashtrians who are working in a Central Govt Organisation do when they don't get an official holiday for a festival that is important to them and to Maharashtra state or a particular city like Jatra, etc., but not a major Indian festival? They have to take leave from Sick, Casual, Earned leaves, and this is what they are doing.

If you observe clearly the list of holidays mentioned by the Central Govt, not all festivals are granted holidays.

Hi!

The concept of a Restricted Holiday will be of great help in the given situation. I am sure the solution does not require demographic details of employees' religion. Just convert one paid holiday into a restricted holiday. This practice is very common in many organizations, and no problems are observed in administering it. Of course, prior approval of the supervisor is essential. Records can be maintained in the leave card/record of the employee.

- Hiten

Hi Indrani,

How many holidays are you giving to your employees? For example, 10.

First, declare the labor holidays as per the act (26 Jan, 15 Aug, May Day and Oct 2).

The remaining six holidays can be announced as festival holidays (Diwali, Dussehra, Holi, Muharram, Bakrid, Good Friday, Gurunanak Jayanti, Christmas, etc.). Let employees choose when they want to take these holidays, but set a condition that they can avail a maximum of six holidays only, regardless of the festivals.

A.V.S. Kumar

Dear Mr. Hiten,

Thank you for your valuable comments. The final decision taken by management after a lot of discussion is that an additional holiday has been declared, which is a restricted holiday. If Hindus want to take that holiday during Diwali, they can do so, and if non-Hindus want to take it on Christmas or Id, they can avail themselves of that.

If any non-Hindu staff requires more holidays for religious festivals, then we will sort the issue on a case-by-case basis.

Thank you all for the support. CiteHR rocks! :D

Warm Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Hi Indra,

What you can do is keep 2 flexi holidays. For example, you have marked Good Friday and Id as flexi holidays. So, those who want to take a holiday on Good Friday will take leave on that day, and those who want to take the Id holiday can do so.

This practice is followed by many small as well as large companies.

Cheers,
Suyash

No. of leaves can't be increased as the management will always object. But you can have a compensatory leaves option.

For example, if you have 10 leaves annually, you can keep aside 3 days as compensatory leave. Employees will accordingly plan which 3 days they want to take off. But remember, employees should not work on National Holidays; otherwise, you need to pay them.

As you decide to have a total of 10 holidays, you can propose a breakup of (8+2), where 8 are compulsory holidays defined by the company and 2 are called optional holidays. The employee has the freedom to select the holiday of his choice from a list of holidays declared by the company (this list may comprise a few holidays picked from each religion).

Hi Indu,

You have an unusual problem. This option of 8+2 seems to be fine, or it can even be 7+3. Another thing is you should also understand what's the importance of each festival for each religion. I can tell you for Muslims - Id-ul-Fitr (Ramzan - Meethi Id) is the most important festival. The next one is Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid). As for Muharram, it is only observed by the Shia sect. So, if your set of holidays can include these two days, then I think the Muslims should be satisfied.

Similarly, for Christians, I feel Christmas and Good Friday are important. Anyways, the problem was quite challenging, and it's good that you have dealt with it diplomatically. That's the way it should be in a multireligious society like ours.

To go a step further, what you can do is one day before each of the major festivals, you can all get together and have a good tea, and one person can tell everybody else a few lines about their festival. It should be quite interesting.

Thank you,
Riyaz

Dear Indu,

In a globalized economy, we cannot afford to decide company leaves based on religion. Management can have their own views and can frame the policies accordingly. In many advanced countries like the US, UK, etc., especially in IT companies, they have multicultural staff, but the holidays are fixed as per the management's policy. Here as well, I think employees should follow company rules. In many companies, due to work pressure, even Hindu people have to work during Diwali. Yes, during Diwali as well as Eid, the company can organize certain entertainment programs and celebrations. Alternatively, you can try to have a meeting of all concerned parties and try to find an acceptable solution.

Thanks,
Dr. Swati

Hi Indrani,

As you mentioned that you have only 10 holidays, I would suggest allocating 9 fixed designated holidays without including any Muslim or other religion-specific festivals, and keeping 1 day as an Optional/Open leave.

Explain to the employees that this Optional/Open leave can be used for any festival of their choice, provided they inform in advance. This approach will not only accommodate any minor community but will also contribute to overall employee satisfaction.

Yogesh

Hi,

Holidays depend on the Act, and accordingly, we can declare. As per the Factory Act, we must declare 8 holidays and 1 restricted holiday as per the majority of people.

Regards,
Arun

[quote="Arvindsingh"]I suggest a practice which is followed by PSU's

1: National Holidays.-Enforceable by law (i.e. 26 Jan, 15 Aug and 2nd Oct)

2. Gazetted Holidays: Includes major festivals limited to 12 numbers. Decided by collective employee representative/ groups. The list may vary from unit to unit.

3. Restricted Holidays: Includes all minor festivals . List may reach up to 30 or more. Any employee is free to opt any two days out of the list. Leave Application/ Notice may be moved three days earlier.

Upon this pattern you can make two list of Notified and optional holidays. Employees will have option to choose from options.

Regards,

[color=green]Arvind Singh

Good to see so many ideas and opinions posted here, some liberal (people point of view) and some conservative (Management point of view).

Great words for customer delight services and little space for internal customer satisfaction (i.e. employees) still seems ridicules to me.

Please do not mind. Honestly speaking, there no intention to hurt any one feelings. Surely we need to develop an approach to make balance between communitarianism value system and individualistic value system by leading from communitarianism to individualistic value system or vice versa. Some way you will feel there is a valid need to address sensitivity of an individual person also.

Deciding leaves and holidays for an organization is not a job to be finished any how. There must be some rationalization.

There will be a policy “at least how many days the office will function in a year. e.g. 280 days. (Many industrial plants run through out of year. This part is not addressed here.)

At least what percentage of employee population is needed to run office effectively? Make an example the office population is 100 and 80% are needed run office effectively. (Assuming critical positioning exercise has been done. There are clear instructions that who will look after the critical position if the position holder is not present.)

Assume that during some festival of a particular community, holiday is not declared. 30% percent population is absent by taking casual\sick leave. Productivity of office went to bottom. Those who are present, they also are not working properly and trying to leave office early at evening. Even after that all those dissatisfaction with grunting and hissing is present.

Q. Is it beneficial to remain office functional that day?

It may be better to plan this way:

Keep in mind minimum numbers of functional days e.g. 280 days remaining days in a year = 85

Statuary holiday e.g. Sundays=`=~ 52. Remains days 85-52=33

Leaves to address personal needs, casual leaves=12 (100% consumption at extreme condition)

Again remaining days=33-12= 21

Coming to holidays addressing common social needs (GH) = restricted to 12+-2*

(e.g. * If all your client office are closed on X`mas day, and you choose to keep it functional that day because you have no Christian employee. what productivity will be of your office. By closing it at least you can save some electricity bill and can earn a smile in employee face. Need not to say if the attitude is different, you are standing with other happiness and serving a national cause)

Holidays addressing demography specific social needs (RH) = restricted to 2+-1

(Where less than 20% of the population is supposed to use it at a single event. Make the list comprehensive enough. For example if there are only 10 festivals in RH list. It may likely to be consumed @ 20% at each holiday, which will kill the purpose at last. If it has more than 30 festivals, more likely 2-3% absenteeism will be there which is manageable. There will be no need to restrict a Muslim to not take a leave at Mahashivratri and a Hindu on Ester. Off course no one can stop. Surely competent authority holds the power to grant the sanction in the ground of inadequate manpower or some other type of emergency. But if he does so, it is itself an indicator of mismanagement, bad planning and organizing.)

Remaining days 21-14=7

There are still 7 days in hand to handle any emergency otherwise it is ensured that office will remain functional for more than 280 days.

May please refer the list where the last 13 are chosen as GH and rest as RH by employee representative groups. (List of festivals is provided to them along with guide lines to select GH days)

LIST OF HOLIDAYS FOR THE YEAR 2008



Sl. No. Holiday Date 1929-30 SAKA ERA Day of Week

1 New Year Day January 01 Pausa 11 Tuesday

2 Guru Govind Singh's Birthday January 05 Pausa 15 Saturday

3 Makara Sankranti (N. India) January 14 Pausa 24 Monday

4 Makara Sankranti (Bengal)/Pongal January 15 Pausa 25 Tuesday

5 Muharram January 19 Pausa 29 Saturday

6 Basant Panchami / Shree Panchami February 11 Magha 22 Monday

7 Sivaji Jayanti February 19 Magha 30 Tuesday

8 Guru Ravidas Birthday February 21 Phalguna 02 Thursday

9 Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti March 02 Phalguna 12 Sunday

10 Good Friday/Holika Dahan (Dol Yatra) March 21 Chaitra 01 Friday

11 Easter (Sunday) March 23 Chaitra 03 Sunday

12 Milad-Un-Nabi (Birthday of Prophet Mohammed) April 01 Chaitra 11 Friday

13 Chaitra Sukhaladi/Gudi Padava/Ugadi/Cheti Chand April 07 Chaitra 18 Monday

14 Vaisakhi/Vishu April 13 Chaitra 24 Sunday

15 Vaisakhadi (Bengal)/Bahag Bihu (Assam)/Mesadi April 14 Chaitra 25 Monday

16 Mahavir Jayanti April 18 Chaitra 29 Friday

17 Birthday of Rabindra Nath Tagore May 08 Vaishakha 18 Thursday

18 Buddha Purnima May 20 Vaishakha 30 Tuesday

19 Rath Yatra July 04 Asadha 13 Friday

20 Hazarat Ali's Birthday July 17 Asadha 26 Thursday

21 Raksha Bandhan August 16 Sravana 25 Saturday

22 Parsi New Year 19-Aug Sravana 28 Tuesday

23 Janmashtami (Smarta & Vaishnava) August 24 Bhadra 02 Sunday

24 Ganesh Chaturthi/Vinayak Chaturthi September 03 Bhadra 12 Wednesday

25 Onam September 12 Bhadra 21 Friday

26 Jamat-Ul-Vida September 26 Asvina 04 Friday

27 Dussehra (Maha Saptami) (Additional) October 06 Asvina 14 Monday

28 Dussehra (Maha Ashtami) (Additional) October 07 Asvina 15 Tuesday

29 Maharishi Valmiki's Birthday October 14 Asvina 22 Tuesday

30 Narak Chaturdasi October 27 Kartika 05 Monday

31 Govardhan Puja October 29 Kartika 07 Wednesday

32 Bhai Duj October 30 Kartika 08 Thursday

33 Guru Teg Bahadur's Martyrdrom Day November 24 Agrahayana 03 Monday

34 Christmas Eve December 24 Pausa 03 Wednesday

1 Republic Day January 26 Magha 06 Saturday

2 Maha Shivratri March 06 Phalguna 16 Thursday

3 Holi March 22 Chaitra 02 Saturday

4 Ram Navami (Vaisnava) April 14 Chaitra 25 Monday

5 Independence Day August 15 Sravana 24 Friday

6 Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday/Idul Fitr October 02 Asvina 10 Thursday

7 Dussehra (Maha Navami) October 08 Asvina 16 Wednesday

8 Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami) October 09 Asvina 17 Thursday

9 Deepavali (South India) October 27 Kartika 05 Monday

10 Diwali (Deepavali) October 28 Kartika 06 Tuesday

11 Guru Nanak's Birthday November 13 Kartika 22 Thursday

12 Idu'l Zuha (Bakrid) December 09 Agrahayana 18 Tuesday

13 Christmas Day December 25 Pausa 04 Thursday

With Regards,

Arvind Singh

9873933436

Dear Mr. Suyash, Mr. AVS Kumar,

I apologize for the delayed reply. Thank you for your valuable comments. I will keep your suggestions in mind. Keep posting.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Dear Mr. Riyaz,

Thank you for the note on Muslim Festivals. I will definitely keep this in mind while sanctioning the restricted holiday for my Muslim colleagues. Moreover, I really appreciate the idea you have put forward about employees dropping a line about the religious festivals. It is a splendid idea, and I will definitely try to implement the same at the workplace.

Keep posting.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Dear Indrani!

In Holidays declaration, we have to follow the following system:
i) Compulsory Holidays (National Holidays)
ii) Other Festival Holidays
iii) Optional Holidays.

Under the Factories (National & Festival Holidays) Act, 1974, the following are Compulsory Holidays:
1. 26th January (Republic Day)
2. 1st May (May Day)
3. 15th August (Independence Day)
4. 2nd October (Gandhi Jayanthi)

Inclusive of the above Compulsory Holidays, every establishment has to declare a minimum of 8 holidays, as per the Act. Apart from the aforementioned minimum holidays, normally, several organizations will give 2 or 3 optional holidays. You can allot them Holidays in Optional Holidays.

Karan,
Hyderabad.
Email: karanlal_aj@rediffmail.com

Dear Mr. Karanlal,

Thank you so much for your valuable comments. Our company is registered under the Shops and Establishments Act. Could you please let me know if having 10 holidays in a year is sufficient under this Act? Additionally, the holidays mentioned as compulsory holidays are already included in our list of holidays.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Hi,

Ten holidays are definitely sufficient under the Shops and Establishments Act. However, these holidays are only for permanent employees as mandated by the Government of India. I hope this count excludes the regular leaves granted to an employer.

Thanks & Regards,
AJ

Dear Mr. Aj,

Thank you for your reply. The 10 declared holidays exclude the casual leaves allocated to the employees.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

Hi Indrani,

I went through your query and found it to be a really cumbersome topic to decide the number of days to be allotted for gazetted holidays apart from national holidays. I prepared a chart for my company listing the national holidays and gazetted holidays to be provided to my employees without showing any bias towards any religion. I believe that if a holiday is given, it should be for everybody and not for a single community or religious group, as I have observed in many large manufacturing companies.

Please review the attachment to clarify the data. If you have any queries, please feel free to revert back.

Thanks and regards,
Sanjay Saha

Hi Indrani,

It is very unfair to deprive any community from enjoying a holiday on their major festivals, be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or Sikh. Such religious biasness may harm the reputation of the company. Since 10 holidays have already been fixed for the current year, suggest picking one or two holidays which have no connection with religion and adjusting them with Id or Muharram as the case may be. If that is not possible, convince your top management to work on a Sunday in lieu of Id or Muharram. Even if that does not work out, convince your management to sanction special leave only to those 3 Muslim employees. From next year onwards, you have to prepare a mixture of holidays involving all religious festivals.

Hope good sense will prevail upon your management.

Regards,
Kalyan Mitra

Dear Indrani,

Kindly share your current list of holidays so that we can provide you with appropriate guidance. You may consider incorporating at least one or two Muslim holidays into the primary list. Additionally, it is essential for a company to equally respect all religions, whether they belong to the minority or majority, in order to uphold harmonious relationships between employees and management.

Thank you,
Vineet

Hi,

As suggested by our seniors and dear members already, it's very ridiculous to see the festivals and holidays on the religious front. It is better to declare the holidays mixed with all the religions covered thereby. My suggestion goes as above.

KB

I will be very grateful to you if you can answer certain queries regarding holidays declared for religious festivals. I work for a medium/small-sized IT firm as an HR executive. Earlier, we had only Hindu staff in our office, so we declared holidays on Holi, Diwali, etc. Very recently, we have recruited three people who are Muslim. Now, these people will require a leave during Muslim Festivals like Eid, Muharram, etc. The management is not willing to increase the total number of holidays declared.

There can be only one option that I can think of from my side: they can take a holiday during Eid or Muharram, and they can come and work on Diwali to compensate for the work. But then again, in that case, one person from the management side has to come to the office on that day.

I am in a fix; can you please suggest an alternative for this?

Thanks and Regards,

Indrani Chakraborty