Paid Holidays

Paid holidays are designated days when employees are compensated for not working — typically covering major national or religious holidays. The most common US paid holiday schedule includes 6 to 11 days annually, typically encompassing New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and Christmas Day, with individual employer variation in what is included. The operational challenge for organizations with customer-facing or operational roles is managing business continuity on holidays where sufficient staffing is required despite employees wanting time off — typically addressed through holiday staffing incentives, shift premiums, or rotation schedules that distribute holiday work obligations fairly across the team rather than consistently falling on the same employees each year.