Each year as the holidays approach, we continue to be surprised by the number of our clients who believe that they must observe and pay their team for holidays. This includes the belief that you must pay your employees double pay if they work on a holiday. These are, however, just common practices and not a legal requirement.

Of course, paying employees additional pay for holidays creates a positive work environment and a more beneficial benefits package, thereby creating a competitive advantage over practices that do not offer holiday pay. However, no business should be making holiday payments under the presumption that doing so is mandatory. Instead, holiday pay, if it is awarded at all, should be seen for what it really is - a gesture of kindness and generosity to your workforce. In addition, such holiday payments can and should be presented as an optional benefit which your practice has chosen to award to your team.

To make the best financial decisions for your practice, you should always be aware of your actual required expenses. While holiday pay may be nice, believing it to be mandatory puts you in a position of not being knowledgeable about your practice’s true payroll expenditures. As a business owner, you should make the decision to award holiday pay to your employees based upon a full understanding of your financial position, and not upon a misunderstanding of what is and is not required.