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Holiday scheduling for 2016: Compare your closing plans with other employers

11/17/2015

by Adam Goldstein

Does your organization offer President’s Day as a paid day off work? Will you close for Good Friday or the day after Thanksgiving?

To compare your holiday closing plans with those of other U.S. employers on various religious and secular holidays, review the findings of the 2016 Holiday Schedules survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The 2016 survey says most employers (92%-94%) will observe the following federal holidays:

  • New Year’s Day on Friday, Jan. 1
  • Memorial Day on Monday, May 30  
  • Independence Day, Monday, July 4
  • Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5
  • Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24
  • Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25

Nearly three-fourths of companies plan to shut down for the day after Thanksgiving in 2016. That was consistent with findings for 2015.

In 2016, more than one-third (34%) of employers that are normally open on Saturdays will be closed on Christmas Eve, Saturday, Dec. 24—also the first day of Hanukkah. In 2015, nearly half (47 percent) will be closed on Christmas Eve, a Thursday.

In 2016, Christmas falls on a Sunday. More than half of the respondents to the SHRM survey said their workplaces will be closed the day after Christmas (a Monday) in 2016.

New Year’s Day 2017 also falls on a Sunday. As a result, 44% of respondents say they will be closed on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017.

Other findings for the upcoming year relating to these federal holidays (federal government offices are closed):   

  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Mon., Jan. 18, 2016—35% will be closed  
  • Presidents Day, Mon., Feb. 15, 2016—33% will be closed  
  • Columbus Day, Mon., Oct. 10, 2016—13% will be closed  
  • Veterans Day on Fri., Nov. 11, 2016—19% will be closed

Only 3% of employers say they plan to close on the Fridays that precede Independence Day and Labor Day in 2016 (both holidays fall on a Monday).

Find more details in the SHRM 2016 Holiday Schedules survey