Should Boxing Day be a US holiday?

[sam_gordon]

Most of your reasons can be directly attributed to understaffing by the company. If they are not staffed to allow people to use a benefit, they are not staffed appropriately.

I think prior generations accepted mistreatment by companies as just the way things worked.

I believe the millennials and gen z are not as will to accept being mistreated by companies.

OK, let's define "appropriately". Let's say a business needs four people to work every hour it's open. And to keep things simple, let's say they're only open 8 hours a day, M-F. So, how many people do you need to keep on staff? Five? Six? Eight? How many is "appropriate"?

Is there enough work to do when you have EVERYONE working?

Let's say you have six people on staff, so two people can be off each day, right? What happens when person A & person B have requested Dec 26 off, then person C requests the day off? You need four people to keep the place running. Someone isn't getting their request. Even if you had eight people, only four can have the day off. What happens when person 5 requests the same day.

It's easy to say a company is "understaffed" (and they may be). I think it's harder to figure out how many it would take to be "fully" staffed. If you add in multiple shifts, weekends, and part timers, it gets even more complicated.

Also, you say "most of my reasons". What about the others?

 

[Minnesota!]

Think about it... adding a federal holiday really only helps federal workers. Private companies don't have to give federal holidays off to their employees. How many got Juneteenth off? Or Washington's birthday? Good Friday? Veterans Day?
I'm guessing if a company DID add Boxing Day as a recognized holiday, they'd "take away" another one. So you get Boxing Day off, but Christmas Eve is now a workday.

Yep. My company added MLK day and then promptly took away Christmas Eve.

That said, I will gladly work around Christmas/ NYE weeks. Nobody else does so it's quiet and no work comes in cuz people get their year end stuff done before they take 2 weeks off So, I enjoy the silence.

 

[kdonnel]

OK, let's define "appropriately". Let's say a business needs four people to work every hour it's open. And to keep things simple, let's say they're only open 8 hours a day, M-F. So, how many people do you need to keep on staff? Five? Six? Eight? How many is "appropriate"?

Is there enough work to do when you have EVERYONE working?

Let's say you have six people on staff, so two people can be off each day, right? What happens when person A & person B have requested Dec 26 off, then person C requests the day off? You need four people to keep the place running. Someone isn't getting their request. Even if you had eight people, only four can have the day off. What happens when person 5 requests the same day.

It's easy to say a company is "understaffed" (and they may be). I think it's harder to figure out how many it would take to be "fully" staffed. If you add in multiple shifts, weekends, and part timers, it gets even more complicated.

Also, you say "most of my reasons". What about the others?

Appropriately is enough people working so that all benefits can be used without fearing repercussion.

So many companies are running at lean or very lean as far as staffing is concerned and it is taking a toll on the employees.

So many companies are run based on near term stock price.

American work culture is broken.

 

[sam_gordon]

Appropriately is enough people working so that all benefits can be used without fearing repercussion.

So many companies are running at lean or very lean as far as staffing is concerned and it is taking a toll on the employees.

So many companies are run based on near term stock price.

American work culture is broken.

So you can't come up with an answer. Let's say everyone gets 30 days off. Plus there are 12 holidays. Five people could EASILY staff a place requiring four people to be "open" AND everyone gets their 30 days off (along with some of the holidays). BUT, you can't allow two people to take the same day off.

I think punishing someone for using one of their benefits should be illegal. BUT, if you tell Suzy she can't take off between Christmas and NY because Joe and Adam are already off, and she takes off anyway, so you punish her, that SHOULDN'T be illegal. Do you disagree?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

So you can't come up with an answer. Let's say everyone gets 30 days off. Plus there are 12 holidays. Five people could EASILY staff a place requiring four people to be "open" AND everyone gets their 30 days off (along with some of the holidays). BUT, you can't allow two people to take the same day off.

I think punishing someone for using one of their benefits should be illegal. BUT, if you tell Suzy she can't take off between Christmas and NY because Joe and Adam are already off, and she takes off anyway, so you punish her, that SHOULDN'T be illegal. Do you disagree?

The answer is what happens in Ireland, the business closes for the week between Christmas and New Year. Even mom and pop small business close here, and it means that everyone has Christmas off.

 

[sam_gordon]

The answer is what happens in Ireland, the business closes for the week between Christmas and New Year. Even mom and pop small business close here, and it means that everyone has Christmas off.

So no one travels? Gas stations have to remain open. Hotels need to remain open. You could make an argument for restaurants.

Nothing is stopping a US business (even gas stations and hotels) from closing the week between Christmas and NY (much less any day of the year). They stay open to make money.

Even if the business closes between Christmas and NY, what if they want to be open the day after Thanksgiving? Many folks want that day off to "recover" from Thanksgiving.

ETA: Any other days during the year you want to tell businesses they MUST be closed?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

So no one travels? Gas stations have to remain open. Hotels need to remain open. You could make an argument for restaurants.

Transport has reduced schedules.

I used to work in the hospitality industry. Many places close on Christmas Day and have reduced opening hours between Christmas and New Year.

Ireland basically shuts between Christmas and New Year and everyone expects places that are open will not have full staff and will have reduced hours and services.

 

[sam_gordon]

Transport has reduced schedules.

I used to work in the hospitality industry. Many places close on Christmas Day and have reduced opening hours between Christmas and New Year.

Ireland basically shuts between Christmas and New Year and everyone expects places that are open will not have full staff and will have reduced hours and services.

Reduced hours would still mean people work. How do hotels reduce their hours? Hospitals? Picking nits, but now you say "many places close on Christmas". Earlier you said "everyone has Christmas off".

MOST places in the US close on Christmas. MOST people in America have Christmas off.

Again, if any business (whether in the US or Ireland) wants to shutdown between Christmas and NY, go for it! That's their choice. I'm guessing there's a reason many businesses are open though.

In Ireland, does the government force businesses to close or the businesses CHOOSE to close?

 

[Southernmiss]

The US government given number is 11 holidays.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/#url=2024

I don't know what tvguy is talking about with presidential elections. There's no federal day off around elections.

Not too long ago, during Covid, several norms of workplace and employment were shaken up. And we as society learned to adapt. I think there's more that can be done for the employees. And gen z and millennials are leading the way, in their own 'we're not gonna take it anymore ' ways.

Corporate and fat cat greed is still very much in play. There's definitely more to be done in the favor of workers.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Reduced hours would still mean people work. How do hotels reduce their hours? Hospitals? Picking nits, but now you say "many places close on Christmas". Earlier you said "everyone has Christmas off".

MOST places in the US close on Christmas. MOST people in America have Christmas off.

Again, if any business (whether in the US or Ireland) wants to shutdown between Christmas and NY, go for it! That's their choice. I'm guessing there's a reason many businesses are open though.

In Ireland, does the government force businesses to close or the businesses CHOOSE to close?

In essential places like hospitals, there is a general understanding that employees rotate being off at Christmas. Those that work Christmas will be off at New Year, those that are off Christmas will work New Year and then the following year it will switch so, people generally know that every second year they will be off at Christmas.

Hotels reduce their hours by not booking the hotel to full capacity, so that they can operate with half the staff.

Its just the culture to close over Christmas, no one expects things to be open. Its been like that for generations.

 

[bcwife76]

You actually get more annual stat days than we do here in Canada and Boxing Day is is one of the few we don’t share. My company has business units in Austin and Long Beach. By law those employees get all the American holidays off and by company policy they get all the Canadian ones too. I’m jealous.

And it also varies by province. We have 12 here in BC, 13 if you are some of the lucky ones to get Easter Monday.

 

[kdonnel]

So you can't come up with an answer. Let's say everyone gets 30 days off. Plus there are 12 holidays. Five people could EASILY staff a place requiring four people to be "open" AND everyone gets their 30 days off (along with some of the holidays). BUT, you can't allow two people to take the same day off.

I think punishing someone for using one of their benefits should be illegal. BUT, if you tell Suzy she can't take off between Christmas and NY because Joe and Adam are already off, and she takes off anyway, so you punish her, that SHOULDN'T be illegal. Do you disagree?

Planning always has to occur.... but companies that are so leanly staffed that no reasonable amount of planning allows everyone to take their allotted PTO, are not reallying offering PTO as a benefit.

Someone not reporting to work on a planned work day should be punished based on company policy. It should not, and is not illegal. Just against company policy.

 

[ronandannette]

Technically there is no law that requires holidays to be days off paid or otherwise.

Huh...I didn’t know that, although presumably our corporate HR department does. Perhaps the US holidays are given based on the company model that adheres to the Canadian law. I do know the reason the US business units also get our holidays is because with the rest of the company closed, there is no support for them (IT, HR, etc.) although I don’t imagine function without it for a day or two at a time would be impossible.

 

[tvguy]

Most of your reasons can be directly attributed to understaffing by the company. If they are not staffed to allow people to use a benefit, they are not staffed appropriately.

I think prior generations accepted mistreatment by companies as just the way things worked.

I believe the millennials and gen z are not as will to accept being mistreated by companies.

Understaffing, and in the industry I worked in, black out months for vacation. No vacations in February, May and November.......July used to be on that list too but got dropped. They wanted no more than one person in each job classification off at a time, but there were not enough weeks in the year open for vacation for that to happen.
It used to get interesting in the last quarter of the calendar year as people tried to use their time, managers said no, and finally the Business office would step in and tell the managers that they HAD to approve the time off.
Also, working for Corporations that had "use it or lose it" policies on Vacation or PTO. I'm in California, and you can NEVER lose vacation or PTO, they have to let you carry it over, or pay it out. And corporate would NEVER considering paying out vacation.

 

[ronandannette]

And it also varies by province. We have 12 here in BC, 13 if you are some of the lucky ones to get Easter Monday.

No Easter Monday in Alberta and we also don’t observe the newly recognized federal day for Reconciliation, at least not yet.

 

[sam_gordon]

Planning always has to occur.... but companies that are so leanly staffed that no reasonable amount of planning allows everyone to take their allotted PTO, are not reallying offering PTO as a benefit.

I agree. And that's what I said should be "illegal"... if the company told me I get 20 days vacation, but only allow me to take 10, THAT should be illegal. OR they should be forced to pay out the other 10 (at time and a half?).

BUT, if I wait until November and request December 26-29 off and am told "no" (because others are already off), IMO, that's on ME.

Just because I have days available does not mean my requests are automatically granted.

Someone not reporting to work on a planned work day should be punished based on company policy. It should not, and is not illegal. Just against company policy.

 

[bcwife76]

No Easter Monday in Alberta and we also don’t observe the newly recognized federal day for Reconciliation, at least not yet.

Yes BC gets reconciliation day now. Easter Monday is a stat for schools and banks here but most other businesses are open.

 

[Karin1984]

In the Netherlands we do not call it Boxing day and nothing associated with boxes. We just call it 2nd Christmas day.

We have 11 national holidays, 9 of these have a religious background. 2 of these are Sundays so technically we only have 7 religous holidays

Other 2 are New Year's day and King's Day.

And every 5 years we have Liberation Day off as well (On May 4th we commemorate those fallen in war and political actions on May 5th we celebrate out freedom). No idea why May 5th is only every 5 years.

Next to this many companies decide on giving extra days off, like the days between Xmas and 31 December. We have some religious holidays on a Thursday, some companies then give Friday off as well.

Because most of our holidays are based in Christianity and being a multicultural society, there are discussions to give flexible holidays. For example that muslim colleagues can take off Eid-El-Fitr, instead of Easter, without spending your vacation time on these days.

In the Netherlands we have 20 vacation days minimum (with fulltime = 38-40 hours depending on company), but most companies give more. I think I am at 25-30. And we have "unlimited" sick days.

 

[tvguy]

Huh...I didn’t know that, although presumably our corporate HR department does. Perhaps the US holidays are given based on the company model that adheres to the Canadian law. I do know the reason the US business units also get our holidays is because with the rest of the company closed, there is no support for them (IT, HR, etc.) although I don’t imagine function without it for a day or two at a time would be impossible.

Yes, holidays are optional as days off. ALMOST every employer gives some holidays, but it is not required. A friend works for a small company that does not give ANY paid time off for holidays or vacation. You can take time off, just without pay. Owner didn't want to deal with keeping track of time off, so instead everyone gets a $10,000 bonus in December in lieu of paid time off.
He didn't used to give paid time off for being sick either, but in California they changed the law to require 3 sick days, and they changed that law and starting next year you get 5 paid sick days. And of course with covid, there were special laws that required two weeks off with pay for covid, but those have all expired.

 

[disneychrista]

Huh...I didn’t know that, although presumably our corporate HR department does. Perhaps the US holidays are given based on the company model that adheres to the Canadian law. I do know the reason the US business units also get our holidays is because with the rest of the company closed, there is no support for them (IT, HR, etc.) although I don’t imagine function without it for a day or two at a time would be impossible.

Depending on what business functions are performed at the US business units not doing so could make it more difficult to find qualified and quality employees. Lots of employers give holidays as part of the employment package because it is seem as a perk. I know having 14 paid holidays is a nice perk of working for the courts. We get more holidays than the federal government and state employees.