Holiday calendar for FMCG distributors

Festivals shape the workload, before and after

Before Diwali, Durga Puja, Pongal or Eid, retailers stock up, and the weeks before the festival are the busiest of the year for billing, loading and deliveries. On the festival itself, markets close or slow down, and the distributor can close too. Many distributors close for two or three days after Diwali, when retailers are shut and staff want to be home. Set these as company holidays, and keep the weeks before them as working weeks with a leave freeze.

Market closure days and beats

In many towns, markets close on a fixed weekday, and different areas of a city may close on different days. A salesman's beat plan already skips a closed market, but the holiday calendar matters for staff whose work stops that day. If the whole business rests on the market closure day, put it in the shift pattern as the weekly off rather than listing it as a holiday. Weekly closure can also be covered by your state's Shops and Establishments Act rules, so read them first.

Depots in more than one district or state

A distributor with depots in two districts or states needs holidays by depot. A depot in Nashik and one in Surat follow different regional festivals. ZeniaHR applies each holiday only to the branches and departments you choose, so each depot keeps its own list, attendance and payroll read the right days, and a regional holiday in one depot never appears as an absence in the other.

Holiday duty for the godown

Company trucks sometimes arrive on a holiday, and they cannot wait. Godown staff who unload on a paid holiday earn a comp-off that HR grants, and any hours beyond their shift that day are overtime at the holiday multiplier, which should be 2 or more, since the OSH Code sets overtime at twice the ordinary wage rate. Optional holidays, with a yearly pick limit, let staff from other states mark their own festivals, such as Chhath or Onam.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Load the year's national, regional and company holidays into Holiday Calendars, each under its category.
2. Add the post-Diwali closure days as company holidays, and make national days recurring yearly holidays.
3. Apply each regional holiday to its depot by branch, so every depot sees only its own list.
4. Offer optional holidays with a yearly cap on picks, so staff from other regions can keep their own festivals.
5. Whenever the godown unloads on a holiday, grant the comp-off and approve the holiday overtime before payroll.

Read more about holiday calendars in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions