Holidays

Holidays are organization-defined non-working days on which employees are not expected to attend work. Configuring your holiday calendar correctly is essential because holidays affect attendance tracking, leave calculations, and payroll processing.

This chapter covers adding holidays to Udyamo HRMS, managing organization-wide and office-specific holidays, and understanding how holidays interact with other modules.

What You Will Learn

• How to navigate to the Holidays section
• How to add individual holidays
• The difference between organization-wide and office-specific holidays
• How to manage national holidays vs. optional/restricted holidays
• How to set up recurring annual holidays
• How to bulk upload holidays
• How holidays affect attendance, leave, and payroll
• How to edit and delete holidays

Prerequisites

Required: You must have an Administrator or HR Manager role. At least one office must be configured if you plan to use office-specific holidays. See Chapter 7: Offices & Locations.

Navigating to Holidays

To access the holiday calendar:

1. Click Holidays in the left sidebar navigation.

The Holidays page displays a calendar view (month-by-month) showing all configured holidays, along with a list view that shows holiday details in a table format.

Adding a Holiday

To add a new holiday:

1. Navigate to Holidays.
2. Click Add Holiday.
3. Fill in the holiday details.
4. Click Save.

Holiday Fields

Step-by-Step Example: Adding Republic Day

1. Navigate to Holidays.
2. Click Add Holiday.
3. Enter the following details:
   • Holiday Name: Republic Day
   • Start Date: January 26
   • End Date: January 26
   • Office: All Offices
   • Type: National Holiday
4. Click Save.

Republic Day now appears on the holiday calendar for all offices.

Organization-Wide vs. Office-Specific Holidays

Udyamo HRMS supports two scopes for holidays:

Organization-Wide Holidays

These apply to all offices across the organization. National holidays and company-wide occasions (such as the company's foundation day) are typically organization-wide.

Configuration: Select All Offices in the Office field when creating the holiday.

Office-Specific Holidays

These apply only to employees at selected offices. Regional holidays (state-specific festivals, local observances) are typically office-specific.

Configuration: Select one or more specific offices in the Office field when creating the holiday.

Example: Onam is a major festival in Kerala but not a holiday in Maharashtra. You would create an "Onam" holiday and assign it only to your Kerala office.

Tip: Start by adding the standard national holidays that apply to all offices, then add regional holidays for each office separately. This prevents employees in one state from seeing holidays that do not apply to them.

National Holidays vs. Optional Holidays

National Holidays

National holidays are mandatory non-working days. All employees at the assigned offices are off on these days. No check-in is expected, and no leave is deducted.

Common national holidays for India:

Optional / Restricted Holidays

Optional holidays provide employees with a choice. The organization publishes a list of optional holidays, and employees can select a limited number (typically 2 -- 3 per year) from this list.

How to manage optional holidays in Udyamo HRMS:

1. Create a leave category called "Restricted Holiday" (see Chapter 21).
2. Create a leave policy for this category with an annual credit equal to the number of optional holidays an employee can choose (e.g., 2 days).
3. Add all optional holidays to the holiday calendar with the Type set to "Optional."
4. Employees apply for leave on their chosen optional holidays using the Restricted Holiday category.

Tip: Clearly communicate to employees which holidays are mandatory (no action needed) and which are optional (they must apply using the Restricted Holiday category).

Multi-Day Holidays

Some holidays span more than one day. To configure a multi-day holiday:

1. Click Add Holiday.
2. Set the Start Date to the first day of the holiday period.
3. Set the End Date to the last day of the holiday period.
4. Fill in the remaining fields and click Save.

Example: Diwali might span 2 -- 3 days depending on your organization's policy:

• Holiday Name: Diwali
• Start Date: November 1
• End Date: November 3
• Office: All Offices

All three days (November 1, 2, and 3) are marked as holidays.

Recurring Annual Holidays

Many holidays recur every year on the same date (e.g., Republic Day is always January 26). However, some holidays follow the lunar calendar and fall on different dates each year (e.g., Diwali, Eid, Holi).

Setting Up Holidays for a New Year

At the start of each calendar or fiscal year:

1. Navigate to Holidays.
2. Add all holidays for the upcoming year with correct dates.
3. For fixed-date holidays, enter the same date as the previous year.
4. For variable-date holidays, consult the official government gazette or calendar for the correct dates.

Tip: Plan your annual holiday calendar in advance — ideally before the start of the fiscal year. Publish it as an announcement so employees can plan their personal leave around public holidays.

Bulk Holiday Upload

For organizations with many holidays or multiple offices, manually adding each holiday can be time-consuming. Udyamo HRMS supports bulk holiday upload via a template file.

Steps for Bulk Upload

1. Navigate to Holidays.
2. Click Import or Bulk Upload.
3. Download the template file (CSV or Excel format).
4. Fill in the template with your holiday data:

5. Upload the completed file.
6. Review the preview to verify the data is correct.
7. Click Confirm to import all holidays.

Warning: Ensure that office names in the upload file exactly match the office names configured in Udyamo HRMS. Mismatched names will result in import errors.

Holiday Impact on Other Modules

Holidays interact with several other parts of Udyamo HRMS:

Impact on Attendance

• Holidays are automatically marked as non-working days on the attendance calendar.
• Employees are not required to check in or check out on holidays.
• If an employee works on a holiday (e.g., shift-based workers), their check-in is recorded and may qualify them for a Compensatory Off.

Impact on Leave Calculations

• Holidays that fall within a leave period are excluded from the leave day count.

Example: An employee applies for leave from Monday to Friday (5 calendar days). If Wednesday is a public holiday:

The system deducts 4 leave days, not 5.

• Weekly off days (e.g., Saturdays and Sundays) that fall within the leave period are also excluded, depending on your work week configuration.

Impact on Payroll

• Holidays are counted as paid days in the payroll calculation (assuming the employee is not on unpaid leave).
• They contribute to the total working days of the month.
• Employees who work on holidays may be eligible for overtime or compensatory off, depending on your attendance policies.

Editing a Holiday

To modify an existing holiday:

1. Navigate to Holidays.
2. Click on the holiday name in the list view or calendar.
3. Update the name, dates, or office assignment.
4. Click Save.

Warning: Editing a holiday date after attendance for that day has been processed may cause inconsistencies. If you need to change a holiday date, review attendance records for the affected date and adjust them if necessary.

Deleting a Holiday

To remove a holiday:

1. Navigate to Holidays.
2. Click the Delete icon next to the holiday.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Once deleted, the day reverts to a regular working day. If attendance or leave records already exist for that date, those records remain unchanged but the day is no longer treated as a holiday going forward.

Warning: Deleting a holiday retroactively does not automatically recalculate attendance or leave. If you delete a holiday for a past date, you may need to manually review and adjust attendance records.

Holiday Calendar View

The Holidays page provides two views:

Calendar View

A month-by-month visual calendar with holidays highlighted. This view is useful for quickly seeing the distribution of holidays throughout the year.

List View

A table listing all holidays with their name, dates, office scope, and type. This view is useful for searching, filtering, and managing individual holidays.

Tip: Share the holiday calendar with employees by directing them to the Holidays section in their self-service portal. Employees can view the holidays applicable to their office.

Best Practices

1. Set up holidays before the fiscal year begins. This ensures accurate attendance tracking and leave calculations from Day 1.
2. Use office-specific holidays for regional festivals. This avoids confusion for employees at offices in different states.
3. Review the government gazette annually. Dates for variable holidays change each year. Update your calendar accordingly.
4. Coordinate with leave policies. Ensure optional holiday management aligns with your Restricted Holiday leave category and policy.
5. Communicate the holiday calendar. Publish the annual holiday list as an announcement at the start of each year.

What Comes Next

With leave categories, policies, and holidays configured, your leave management system is ready for use. Proceed to Chapter 24: Applying for & Approving Leaves to learn about the leave request workflow.