I am also preparing this policy in my organisation. We have a total of only 7 public holidays throughout the year, this includes National Holidays + popular festivals.
What I was thinking - Employee can swap the holiday. For eg: If an employee doesn’t want to take a holiday on Christmas and utilise that holiday during Ganpati or Diwali. Would this work? Can anyone guide me on this. Also wanted to check if similar can be done with National holidays too or would it have any compliance issue.
One of the prevalent practices in the Indian industry is the provision of compensatory offs. Organizations permit employees to work on holidays in instances of urgent requirements. In recognition of the additional effort invested on these holidays, employees are granted compensatory offs as a form of credit, which they can utilize at their convenience. The practice of swapping holidays is not commonly observed, as it may unnecessarily contribute to administrative overhead.
Another noteworthy practice involves the creation of a holiday pool, designating certain days as Optional (RH) holidays. Employees are then given the flexibility to choose a fixed number of holidays from this pool annually.
It is imperative to note that National and Festival Holidays are subject to specific guidelines in each state. Therefore, it is essential to adhere to compliance standards while formulating and implementing policies in this regard
You can give employees this option to Swap holidays. This is more prevelant in MNC companies as they need to give holidays as per their parent company nation. But this shall not be allowed for National Holidays as these holidays are mandated by Law.