A short common list, then branch lists
Keep the company-wide list short: the national holidays and the few festivals every location observes. Then build each site's list at branch level. A Kerala site gets Onam and Vishu, a site in Bihar gets Chhath, a Tamil Nadu site gets Pongal, and a Gujarat site gets Uttarayan and Bestu Varas, the day after Diwali. Holidays can apply to chosen branches and departments, so one calendar holds every site's list without anyone seeing holidays that are not theirs. Each state's Shops and Establishments rules may add requirements of their own, so check them for every state with a site or office.
Following the client plant's calendar
A site inside a refinery or steel plant often cannot work when the client plant is on holiday, because permits are not issued and client engineers are away, and it may be expected to work on days your head office is closed. Ask the client for their holiday list at mobilization and align the site's list with it where the contract allows. Record the client-driven days as company holidays for that site's branch only, so the head office calendar stays as it is.
Holiday work during shutdowns
A client's shutdown window is fixed by the plant's maintenance plan, not by your holiday list, so EPC staff on a shutdown job may work through Diwali or Independence Day. Decide the rule before the job starts: a comp-off for each holiday worked, or extra pay at the holiday multiplier in the overtime policy, never set below twice the ordinary wage rate. Many EPC firms let the engineer choose, since some would rather add the day to their next home leave than take the money.
Optional holidays for a mixed site team
Site teams come from every state, so a fixed festival list suits nobody fully. Offer two or three optional holidays and let each engineer pick from a list covering Eid, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Onam, Durga Puja and others. At a remote site, too many people from one discipline may pick the same day, so ask the site manager to review the optional holiday report before festival season and agree cover early.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- In Holiday Calendars, create the national holidays and company-wide festivals once, marked recurring yearly where the date is fixed.
- Add each site's regional holidays as holidays applied to that site's branch, using the regional or religious category.
- Enter client plant holidays as company holidays for the matching branch only, after checking the client's list at mobilization.
- Set the optional holiday pick limit, publish the optional list, and check the optional holiday report for each site before festival season.
- Set the holiday multiplier or comp-off payout in the overtime policy for shutdown work, and settle whether holidays inside a leave spell are charged like weekends under the sandwich rule.
- Import next year's holiday lists for all sites together from Excel with Data Import, so every branch is ready before the year starts.
Read more about holiday calendars in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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Do EPC project sites follow head office holidays?
Not fully. Each site follows the national holidays plus the regional holidays of its own state, and often the client plant's calendar. Keep one company calendar with holidays applied branch by branch, so each site sees its own list and head office keeps its own.
How do EPC companies pay staff who work holidays during a shutdown?
Either with a comp-off for each holiday worked or with extra pay. In ZeniaHR's overtime policy, holiday work has its own multiplier, which should not fall below twice the ordinary wage rate. Decide the rule before the shutdown starts and tell the team, so nobody disputes it afterwards.
Should EPC sites follow the client's holiday list?
Where the site sits inside a client plant, aligning with the client's list usually makes sense, because permits and client engineers are unavailable on the client's holidays. Agree the list at mobilization, and record the client-driven days as company holidays for that site's branch only.
How are regional holidays handled for sites in different states?
Add each state's regional holidays to the branch for the site in that state, and check that state's Shops and Establishments rules for its required holidays. An engineer transferred from a Tamil Nadu site to a West Bengal site moves from Pongal to Durga Puja once HR updates the location on the transfer date.