Thursday the 19th was a public holiday in the US for something called Juneteenth; the holiday commemorates the day when General Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that all enslaved people were free. This holiday was introduced as the 11th Federal holiday by President Biden in 2021.
Public Holidays across the world are a window into national identity and priorities —they reflect a nation’s history, values and cultural identity. Across the globe, the number and nature of public holidays vary dramatically. Japan has 16 national holidays, celebrating everything from the emperor’s birthday to seasonal changes. In contrast, the UK has 8 public holidays, most tied to Christian traditions. India, with its vast diversity, recognizes about 21 public holidays (the most of the top ten economies in the world). Federal nations allow states or provinces to add their own holidays.
These differences prompt several questions. What is the “right’ number of holidays? Do fewer holidays suggest a stronger focus on work ethic or a lack of national consensus on shared cultural milestones? How should countries look at holidays as a signalling device in the face of shifting demographics and culture?
In addition to public holidays are the days that an employee earns as paid leave. I worked for a company earlier in my career whose HR Director was free thinking and ahead of his time; he believed that there was no need to set a number of days as leave for employees and that essentially employees were responsible enough to know what needed to be done and could take leave keeping in mind their deliverables. That approach still remains an outlier. Leave norms in countries like the UK, France and Germany are typically 20–30 days/year plus public holidays. China has a leave system that increases with employee vintage and can vary from 5-15 days a year. Indian employees typically have about 30 days of paid leave, including public holidays. The U.S. remains an outlier, and while paid leave is at the discretion of employers, the typical paid leave is ~18 days.
In addition to leave is the issue of the number of hours worked per week. In many of the European countries, work hours are less than 40 per week whereas in economies like the US, China and India, work hours tend to be longer. More time worked though does not equate to greater productivity, as countries like France and Germany rank higher on productivity per hour. There is also the question of mental health and burnout with extended work hours.
The questions that arise are: Does maximising GDP require maximising hours worked? Can tech and AI drive labour productivity growth which has been flagging? What is the optimal solution keeping in mind the interests of employees, employers and the economy? In an increasingly hybrid work world, how are traditional leave models evolving?
