A list for every state you operate in
Start with the national holidays for everyone, then build each state's list from its own festivals. A seed company with teams in Punjab, Odisha and Tamil Nadu needs Baisakhi in Punjab, Nuakhai in Odisha and Pongal in Tamil Nadu, and none of them anywhere else. In ZeniaHR a holiday can be restricted to certain branches and teams, so each employee's app lists only the days that apply to them. The same entries decide whether a day is a holiday for attendance, for the sandwich rule and for pay, so one correct list does all three jobs.
Village fairs and local festivals
Every district has its jatras, urs and village deity festivals, and on those days farmers will not come to a meeting however well it is planned. Field officers know these dates; the head office does not. Offer a handful of optional holidays with a yearly limit on how many each person picks, and ask area managers to keep a cluster calendar of fair days so farmer meetings and demo plot visits are not scheduled on them. The optional holiday report shows who picked what, which helps when planning coverage.
Holiday duty in the peak
Wheat procurement in Punjab and Madhya Pradesh runs through April, across Baisakhi and Ambedkar Jayanti. Collection centres cannot close for a week, so name the holiday duty team in March. Harpreet, a procurement executive on ₹21,600 gross, works an 8-hour shift on Baisakhi. Taking a 30-day month, her day rate is ₹720 and her hourly rate ₹90, so at a holiday multiplier of 2 she earns 8 x ₹90 x 2 = ₹1,440 for the day. Where the company gives time off instead, HR credits a comp-off to be used after procurement closes.
- Holiday duty team named a month before the peak
- Festival shifts paid at twice the normal rate or repaid with a day off
- Duty rotated so the same people do not miss every festival
- Staff whose own harvest festival falls in the peak get first choice of a later break
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- Create the national holidays for everyone in Holiday Calendars, then a festival list for each state, restricted to that state's branches.
- Offer local and community festivals as optional days, capped per person each year, and read the pick report before planning cover.
- Repeat fixed-date holidays every year, so each new list starts with them in place.
- In the overtime policy, give holiday work a multiplier of 2 or more, or pick comp-off as its reward during procurement.
- Announce each season's holiday duty team on the Company Wall to the branches concerned, asking the named staff to acknowledge.
Read more about holiday calendars in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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Which holidays do agri companies give field staff?
The national holidays, the festivals of the state where each person works, and a few optional holidays that staff choose themselves within a yearly limit. Harvest festivals such as Baisakhi, Pongal, Nuakhai and Bihu belong on the lists of their own states, applied branch by branch.
Should procurement centres stay open on festivals during harvest?
Often they must, because farmers bring produce when it is ready, festival or not. Pick the holiday team well before the peak, reward the day with double pay or a comp-off, and take turns so each person gets their own festival at home in alternate years.
How can field officers take local festival days off?
Offer optional holidays that staff pick within a yearly limit, so a field officer can mark a village fair or a community festival that is not on the state list. Area managers should also keep a cluster calendar of fair days and avoid scheduling farmer meetings on them.