HR Q&A – Why Do Some Companies Offer Floating Holidays?

Floating holidays are a relatively low-cost way to:

  • Give employees more flexibility

  • Support a more inclusive workplace

  • Show that you understand people’s lives don’t all follow the same calendar

From a practical standpoint, they’re not difficult to administer when set up properly. Floating holidays are one of those benefits that sound small… but can make a surprisingly big difference. At their core, they’re simply paid days off employees can use for personal, cultural, or religious reasons that don’t sit on your standard holiday calendar. In today’s workplace, where teams are more diverse than ever, that flexibility tends to go a long way

Most employees appreciate floating holidays because they feel personal. Not everyone celebrates the same holidays. Not everyone values the same days. And giving people a little control over their time off shows respect for that. From the employer side? They’re usually pretty easy to manage and don’t create a huge administrative burden—especially if you already have a PTO structure in place.

A Few Things to Think Through

Like most things in payroll and HR, the idea is simple… the details matter. Some Companies choose to front load floating holidays at the beginning of the year. Why? Because real life doesn’t wait.  Birthdays, religious observances, family events—they don’t care if someone has only accrued half a day so far.  Front-loading gives employees the ability to actually use the benefit when it matters.

For tracking purposes, the good news is you don’t need to reinvent anything. Floating holidays are typically tracked just like PTO.   If your system handles PTO well (and if you’re using something like ours, it will), this part is straightforward. You can require approval just like PTO, and you can deny requests if coverage is an issue. That said, this is where a little awareness matters. The goal is to balance business needs with fairness.

This blog does not constitute formal HR or legal advice and does not address state or local laws. Our HR Resource Center by Mineral offers further guidelines for this and many other topics. For a small additional fee you can also speak to a live HR Specialist. Contact your friendly APlus Payroll CSS for further information (including login details) or login here. Want to know how we can help your Payroll or Time & Labor process? Please contact us here. Consultation is friendly and free!