How to manage public holidays like a charm this St. Patrick’s Day 2024

Sunday 17 March is St. Patrick’s Day, a religious and cultural holiday to mark the patron saint of Ireland. Despite its Irish origin, St. Paddy’s Day has swept the globe as millions celebrate worldwide every year with parades and local events.

Because it falls on a Sunday this year, millions of Irish workers will be enjoying a long weekend as the public holiday will take place on the following Monday.

But, as with every public holiday, there will inevitably be questions about who is eligible for a paid day off.

So, here’s BrightHR’s public holiday advice and general guidance to prepare you for an influx of potential absences, lateness, and last-minute annual leave around St. Patrick’s Day.

Don’t have a paddy with your public holidays!

This year, with St. Patrick’s Day falling on a Sunday, millions of Irish workers will be enjoying a long weekend as the public holiday will take place on the following Monday.

But as with every public holiday, there will inevitably be questions about who is eligible for a paid day off…

Remember you have a statutory obligation to remunerate all full-time employees on public holidays. So, that means there are some employees who don’t automatically get paid for public holidays. These include:

• Part-timers who don’t accumulate 40 hours in the previous five weeks
• Employees that have been absent for over 52 weeks due to occupational illness of injury
• Employees absent for more than 26 weeks due to non-occupational illness or injury
• Employees absent because they’re striking
• Employees on a period of lay-off that exceeds 13 weeks
• Employees absent on health & safety leave

But let’s remember, there are some industries, like hospitality and care, that will be expected to work on public holidays, and their contracts will reflect this. So then, what’s the situation around pay, you may ask?

You could pay them for the work done, give them a different paid day off within one month, an extra day’s annual leave, or an extra day’s pay. Whatever your decision, make sure you have a policy in place, and everyone is treated equally. If not, you could face claims of unfair treatment from your staff.”

Also, employers may need to prepare for last-minute holiday requests to extend the weekend even longer. In this case, employers will likely be in a position where they must decline some of those requests for time off to avoid understaffing. It’s not a situation anyone wants to be in, but ultimately businesses do need to keep those wheels turning.

That’s why it’s important to have an annual leave policy in place that sets out how annual leave will be managed, outlining the process for submitting a request, and the criteria for accepting. Download your free annual leave policy here.

Lessons from last year: Sickness could spike!

In 2023, St. Patrick's Day saw sickness rates the following day spike, rising by a somewhat coincidental 17%. The notes we found in our absence management software might explain some of the reasons your staff skipped their shift that day. Namely, “hurt leg after a night out” and “no show.”

You can’t control when your staff are going to call in sick, after all, you’re not clairvoyant. But you can get better peace of mind when it comes to finding last-minute cover with BrightHR’s open shifts feature. It’s a nifty feature that lets you fill vacant shifts faster than you can send that “anyone available to work today…” text.

Warning: High potential for holiday clashes

As with any popular event or holiday, you might find one or two employees in the same team have the same idea and look to book St. Patrick’s Day or the day after off. Great minds think alike but it can be dangerous for your schedule if you have holiday clashes.

Luckily, BrightHR’s staff holiday planner instantly flags any holiday clashes with alerts so you automatically know if two members of your team have booked the same day and can address this with them. What’s more our annual leave balance feature helps you plan ahead for busy periods by seeing your entire team’s leave balance at a glance. Helping you get cover for busier periods.

It’s also helpful to get the right advice if you do have to refuse your employees annual leave. So for expert advice in a pinch ask BrightLighting: Can I refuse an annual leave request?

Make sure employee conduct is appropriate if you host St. Paddy’s work events

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the workplace is a great way to promote inclusivity and mark a culturally significant day. There’s nothing wrong with hosting a party in the workplace but it is important to make sure you lay the foundations for proper employee conduct.

Remember you’re still responsible for your employees and it’s important to treat workplace parties as an extension of the workplace.

Work celebrations like a St. Patrick’s party are a great opportunity to wind down and build a relationship with your employees. But they can also be unpredictable if alcohol is involved and could even lead to employee complaints and tribunals in extreme cases.

For expert advice on the work do’s and work don’ts, ask BrightLightning: Should I tell managers that they can't drink alcohol at a work party so that they can keep an eye on things?

Still have a question?

Speak to one of our HR experts today. They’ll give you confidential advice about managing annual leave, absence and employee conduct and they’re available to take your call 24/7. Call today on 1800 279 841.