Boys and Girls Club enjoys ROI of offering flexible holidays

With Good Friday approaching, many employees will forego work for the long weekend. However, some employees may choose to work on this religious holiday if their company offers a flexible holiday policy.

Offering a flexible policy for when employees can take certain statutory holidays can take the burden off employees when it comes to requesting time off for the days that are important to them, said Carolyn Tuckwell, president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club South Coast BC.

In an effort to be more diverse and inclusive, the organization introduced a flexible holiday policy in 2022, which allows employees to substitute certain statutory holidays for other days, Tuckwell said.

“We really started to focus on more intentional efforts around our diversity, equity, inclusion, Truth and Reconciliation practices and on the importance of finding ways to embed our practices into policy. We wanted to look for tangible and meaningful changes to the way we operate our business,” she said.

Balancing business operations with values

When deciding which holidays should be substitutable for employees, the Boys and Girls Club South Coast BC struck a balance between the needs of the business and the needs of employees. While Christmas is a Christian celebration that is not observed by everyone, it is a day in which most businesses are closed. So, it wasn’t functional for the organization to have employees substitute work on that day, Tuckwell said.

In contrast, the organization felt it was important to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as part of its commitment to its values, so this is also a non-substitutional day.

In total, the Boys and Girls Club South Coast BC offers five substitutable holidays: Thanksgiving, Victoria Day, Good Friday, Canada Day and Boxing Day. The substitute days, however, do not have to be culturally or religiously important to the employee, nor do they have to disclose why the day is important to them, she said.

“We didn't make all 12 of our statutory holidays substitutable because we know we have operational needs and if everyone did subscribe to the policy, we could be significantly challenged to operate our programs and serve the way we do. So, it's about thinking about both the employer’s needs, what’s essential and what’s practical,” Tuckwell said.

Providing employees with these flexible holidays came from the mindset of removing the burden to ask for alternate days off, she said.

“We wanted to remove the burden of making these requests and avoid potential things that could interfere with requests. We didn't want there to be touchpoints that ended up interfering with people's individual choice and what’s important to them in taking advantage of this opportunity,” she said. “We also wanted to take out the middleman. So, this is the first time where this and somebody's schedule is first booked directly through HR because we wanted to take out any chance that supervisors might, with all good intentions, try to influence the direction they go in or whether that's convenient.”

ROI of flexible holidays

For the Boys and Girls Club South Coast BC, offering flexible holidays resonated with employees, as they “care deeply about diversity, equity, inclusion, truth and reconciliation, Tuckwell said.

“I'd say the biggest benefit in both directions was our employees feeling that the organization is really committed to doing this and to stepping out and doing something different that isn't common as a demonstration of that commitment,” she said.

In addition to benefiting employee morale, flexible holiday policies can also offer financial benefits, said Robert Richler, partner at Bernardi Human Resource Law LLP. Businesses that are open on holidays may have to pay employees time and a half or holiday pay if they are required to work.

“By letting an employee substitute a holiday for another day off, they don’t have to pay them extra money on the holiday to work. Instead, they can take advantage of giving them another day off when other people are available to work, so there’s a financial benefit as well,” he said.

Establishing a flexible holiday policy

The best practice when it comes to offering flexible holidays is creating a policy around what is or isn’t acceptable in terms of substituting days off. Some companies may allow only certain days to be substituted, while others may allow for any, Richler said.

The policy should also outline the timeline or deadline for substitution requests. Generally, the Employment Standards Act says that a substitute holiday is supposed to be scheduled for a day no later than three months after the public holiday for which it was earned. However, a written agreement can allow employees to take these days up to a year later, he said.  

“A policy needs to be clearly set out and distributed to employees, ideally in its own, clear message, not buried with other things. The best practice would be to remind employees of the policy at the beginning or end of each year and highlight that if they are planning to take advantage of it, they should do so before this date,” Richler said.

If an employee doesn't let the employer know that they want to take advantage of the policy, it should just be assumed that they're going to take the regular statutory holidays, he said.

Avoiding human rights issues

At the base level, employees are not required to specify the reason for wanting a substitute holiday. While an employer could highlight in their policy that specification is required, this could be “dicey territory,” Richler said. If an employer refuses to let the employee take the substitute holiday and it’s related to religious observances or their creed, that could create Human Rights Code issues.

“Employers should be aware of the fact that if you are making an employee explain why they want a certain day off, there may be potential human rights issues that need to be looked out for to ensure that you're not violating them,” he said.

Employers may not trigger Human Rights Code violations if they deny a substitute holiday to an employee who did not request the day prior to the deadline outlined in the policy. However, the employer may still be required to give the employee the day off as a normal vacation day or an unpaid holiday to avoid violating the Human Rights Code, Richler said.

“Generally, the policy should be drafted in a way that addresses these aspects to avoid potential complications and legal implications.”