Introduction
Public holidays impact staffing, payroll, and compliance. When holidays are not tracked consistently, companies run into the same problems: understaffed shifts, unexpected overtime costs, and payroll mistakes caused by incorrect hour types.
This guide explains how to use holiday calendars in workforce operations — and links to our Holiday Calendars hub where you can browse holidays by country and year.
Tip: Holiday data becomes most valuable when it’s integrated into scheduling and time tracking. If you’re building an end-to-end workflow, see Grownu workforce management solutions and how they connect to work time tracking.
Outline of the Article
- Why holidays matter
- How to use holiday calendars
- Holiday integration in workforce systems
- Where to find holiday calendars by country
- FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
Why public holidays matter for workforce operations
A holiday is not just a date on a calendar — it changes how you plan coverage and how you calculate pay. Depending on local regulations and contracts, holidays may trigger:
- Premium pay rules (holiday rate, overtime stacking, or special multipliers)
- Time off rules (paid day off, substitutes when holidays fall on weekends)
- Approval workflows (who approved holiday work and why)
- Reporting needs (separating holiday hours from normal working time)
How to use holiday calendars in practice
The simplest and most reliable approach is to treat the holiday calendar as a “source of truth” and build your workflow around it:
- Plan schedules around holidays (coverage, shift swaps, absences)
- Track time and classify holiday hours correctly
- Approve exceptions (holiday overtime, extra coverage, replacement shifts)
- Export clean payroll data with correct hour types and rates
This is exactly why holiday calendars and work time tracking should work together — when hour types are correct, payroll becomes faster and disputes decrease.
Why holiday integration inside the workforce system is important
Holiday data is most useful when it’s integrated into the same system where schedules and time entries live. In a workforce management system, holiday integration helps you:
- Auto-classify holiday hours vs. regular hours
- Apply the correct rules for holiday pay and overtime
- Prevent planning mistakes by highlighting holiday dates in schedules
- Keep audit trails for approvals and exceptions
If you want to automate these workflows (scheduling, time tracking, approvals, payroll-ready exports), explore Grownu workforce management solutions.
Holiday calendars by country and year
You can browse holiday calendars here: Holiday Calendars hub. Select a country (and region if available), then choose a year.
Need working days/monthly hours together with holidays? See Work Time Calendars.
Frequently Asked Questions
Last updated: January 25, 2026
