Holidays
Configure company-wide days off that affect all users' availability and project scheduling.
Overview
What Are Company Holidays?
Company holidays are company-wide days off when everyone in your organization is unavailable, regardless of their personal schedules. When a date is marked as a company holiday:
- All users automatically become unavailable on that date
- Scheduling warnings appear when someone tries to book that day
- No manual coordination needed - applies to entire company
- Consistent across all departments - everyone follows same holiday calendar
How Company Holidays Work
Company holidays have the highest priority in the availability system:
| Priority | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Highest) | Company Holidays | Blocks everyone |
| 2 | User's Weekly Schedule | Individual working hours |
| 3 | Existing Appointments | Activities, meetings |
What this means: Even if a user has working hours set for December 25th, they'll still be unavailable if Christmas is a company holiday.
Prerequisites
To manage company holidays, you need administrator access with the Company Setup permission.
How to check your permissions:
- Try navigating to Settings > Company Holidays
- If you see "Access Denied," contact your system administrator
Accessing Holiday Management
- Click your profile menu (top-right corner)
- Select Settings
- Click Company Holidays in the left sidebar
Managing Holidays
Viewing Holidays
The Company Holidays page displays:
- Year Filter: Dropdown to view past or future years
- Include Past: Toggle to show/hide holidays that have passed
- Sort Order: Chronological (earliest to latest)
- Status Indicators: Active holidays shown in color, inactive grayed out
Adding a Holiday
One-Time Holiday (Specific Year)
Use this for:
- Company events (picnics, parties, all-hands meetings)
- Special closures (renovations, moving days)
- Non-recurring observances
Steps:
- Click Add Holiday button
- Enter holiday name (e.g., "Company Picnic")
- Select date using calendar picker
- Leave "Recurring annually" unchecked
- Click Save Holiday
This holiday will only appear for the selected year and won't repeat.
Recurring Holiday (Every Year)
Use this for:
- Federal holidays (Christmas, New Year's, July 4th)
- Annual company traditions (Founder's Day)
- Religious observances (if your company observes them)
Steps:
- Click Add Holiday button
- Enter holiday name (e.g., "Independence Day")
- Select date (e.g., July 4, 2025)
- Check "Recurring annually"
- Click Save Holiday
This holiday will appear every year on the same date (2025, 2026, 2027, etc.).
The system stores the month and day, so it automatically generates the holiday for all future years.
Editing a Holiday
- Find the holiday in the list
- Click the edit icon
- Modify the fields:
- Name
- Date
- Recurring status
- Click Save Changes
What You Can Change:
- Holiday name (fix typos, update description)
- Date (if entered incorrectly)
- Convert one-time to recurring (or vice versa)
- Activate/deactivate holiday
Editing a holiday does not automatically cancel existing appointments on that date. You'll need to reschedule affected appointments manually.
Deleting a Holiday
- Find the holiday in the list
- Click the delete icon
- Confirm deletion in the dialog
- Holiday is immediately removed
When to Delete:
- Holiday was added by mistake
- Company no longer observes that holiday
- Duplicate entry exists
When NOT to Delete:
- To temporarily disable → Use "Deactivate" instead
- For past holidays → Keep for historical record, use filter to hide
Deactivating vs. Deleting
| Action | Effect | Reversible? |
|---|---|---|
| Deactivate | Holiday remains in database but isn't enforced | Yes |
| Delete | Holiday completely removed | No |
How to Deactivate:
- Edit the holiday
- Uncheck "Active"
- Save changes
Using Holiday Templates
Importing a Template
- Click Import from Template button
- Select a template:
- US Federal Holidays
- Common US Business Holidays
- Choose starting year (defaults to current year)
- Review the preview list
- Optionally check Mark all as recurring (recommended)
- Click Import Holidays
Importing doesn't create duplicates—the system checks for existing holidays with the same date and name.
Customizing After Import
After importing a template, you might want to:
-
Add company-specific holidays:
- Founder's Day
- Company anniversary
- Local/regional observances
-
Remove holidays your company doesn't observe:
- Veterans Day (some businesses stay open)
- Day after Thanksgiving
-
Adjust names to match your company's terminology
How Holidays Affect Scheduling
Activity Scheduling
When creating or editing activities, company holidays provide real-time warnings:
Before Adding Holiday:
- Activity: "Site Visit"
- Date: December 25, 2025
- Status: ✅ No conflicts
After Adding Christmas Holiday:
- Activity: "Site Visit"
- Date: December 25, 2025
- Status: ⚠️ Company Holiday: Christmas Day
The system shows warnings but does not prevent scheduling on holidays. Users can proceed if they have a valid reason (e.g., emergency work, maintenance during closure).
Project Calendars & Gantt Charts
Company holidays affect how projects are displayed and calculated:
Visual Indicators
In project calendars and scheduling views, company holidays may appear as:
- Shaded/grayed out dates
- Holiday labels on the date
- Different background color from regular weekends
Duration Calculations
When holidays are added, they affect project timeline calculations:
Example:
- Project: Kitchen Remodel
- Start: December 22, 2025 (Monday)
- Duration: 5 business days
- Original End: December 26, 2025 (Friday)
After Adding Christmas (Dec 25):
- New End: December 29, 2025 (Monday)
The system treats Dec 25 as a non-working day and automatically extends the end date.
Gantt Chart Behavior
Task Duration
When calculating task duration, holidays are excluded from working days:
Task: "Foundation Work"
Duration: 10 days
Start: Nov 24, 2025 (Monday)
Without Holidays:
End: Dec 5, 2025 (excludes weekends only)
With Thanksgiving Holidays (Nov 27-28):
End: Dec 9, 2025 (excludes weekends + 2 holidays)
Dependency Chains
Holidays affect dependent tasks—if Task A shifts due to a holiday, all dependent tasks shift accordingly.
Critical Path
Adding holidays may affect the project's critical path:
- Critical tasks shift
- Float/slack time may change
- Overall project completion date may extend
Review critical path after adding holidays that fall within active project timelines.
Existing Scheduled Items
Important: Adding a company holiday does not automatically cancel or reschedule existing activities, appointments, or project tasks.
- Items remain on their original dates
- They'll show holiday warnings when viewed
- Responsible parties must manually reschedule
Resource Capacity
Users are automatically marked as unavailable (0 hours capacity) on company holidays:
| Day | Capacity |
|---|---|
| Mon (Dec 22) | 8 hours |
| Tue (Dec 23) | 8 hours |
| Wed (Dec 24) | 8 hours |
| Thu (Dec 25) | 0 hours (Christmas) |
| Fri (Dec 26) | 8 hours |
| Week Total | 32 hours (not 40) |
Handling Edge Cases
Holidays on Weekends
The system does not automatically handle weekend observance.
Scenario: Christmas Day falls on Saturday.
Your Options:
- Observe on actual day: Add holiday for Saturday December 25
- Observe on Friday: Add holiday for Friday December 24, name it "Christmas Day Observed"
- Add both: Saturday as holiday, Friday as "Day before Christmas"
Follow your company's HR policy. Most companies observe Friday if holiday falls on Saturday, Monday if it falls on Sunday.
Partial-Day Closures
The system treats holidays as all-day events.
Scenario: "Half-day before Christmas" - closing at noon.
Workaround:
- Don't add as company holiday
- Have individual users update their personal availability for that day
Department-Specific Days Off
Company holidays apply to everyone.
Scenario: "Engineering Off-Site" - only engineering team unavailable.
Solution:
- Don't add as company holiday
- Team members should add calendar activities or personal availability overrides
Use Company Holidays Only For: Days when the entire company is closed.
Best Practices
Holiday Planning
- Plan ahead - Add next year's holidays in October/November before Q1 project planning
- Communicate - Notify staff before adding holidays that affect scheduled activities
- Be consistent - Follow company HR policy for which days are observed
- Review annually - Audit holiday list each year for accuracy
Managing Changes
-
Before adding a holiday in an active project period:
- Check the project calendar view for that date
- Look for active projects spanning that date
- Manually review critical path projects
- Notify affected project managers
-
When removing a holiday:
- Consider if projects were scheduled around it
- Communicate the change to affected teams
Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Q: Can I temporarily disable a holiday without deleting it?
A: Yes! Edit the holiday and uncheck "Active". Inactive holidays won't block scheduling but remain in the system for reactivation.
Q: What happens to activities scheduled before a holiday was added?
A: Existing activities remain scheduled. The system doesn't automatically cancel or reschedule them—you'll need to handle that manually.
Q: How far in advance can I add holidays?
A: As far as you want! Recurring holidays automatically apply to all future years.
Recurring Holidays
Q: Can I edit just one occurrence of a recurring holiday?
A: No, editing a recurring holiday updates the pattern for all years. For a one-year exception, create a separate one-time holiday.
Q: How do I stop a recurring holiday after a certain year?
A: You can only delete the entire recurring holiday. Workaround: Convert to one-time holidays for each specific year.
Templates
Q: Can I customize a template before importing?
A: Not currently. Import the template, then edit or delete individual holidays after.
Q: What happens if I import the same template twice?
A: The system checks for duplicates and won't create the same holiday twice.
Permissions & Access
Q: Who can view company holidays?
A: Everyone in the company can see the holiday list when scheduling. Only admins with COMPANY_SETUP permission can add/edit/delete.
Q: Can I delegate holiday management to HR?
A: Yes, your system administrator can grant the COMPANY_SETUP permission to specific users.
Project Impact
Q: Do company holidays automatically adjust project timelines in Gantt charts?
A: Yes. Gantt charts automatically recalculate to treat holidays as non-working days.
Q: Can I add a holiday without affecting existing project schedules?
A: No, holidays automatically affect all timeline calculations. You can mark a holiday as "Inactive" first, then activate it after reviewing project impacts.