Holidays
Configure public holidays and company-specific holidays that affect attendance, scheduling, and payroll calculations.
The Holidays settings page lets you define public holidays and company-specific non-working days. Holidays configured here are used across the platform to calculate attendance, adjust work schedules, determine leave balances, and ensure payroll reflects holiday pay correctly.
Navigation: Settings > General > Holidays
Purpose
Holidays affect multiple areas of the platform:
- Attendance -- Holidays are excluded from attendance calculations. Employees are not marked absent on holidays.
- Work Schedules -- Scheduled shifts on holidays are automatically flagged or adjusted based on your schedule settings.
- Leave Calculations -- Public holidays that fall within an approved leave period may or may not consume leave days, depending on your leave policy configuration.
- Payroll -- Holiday pay rates (e.g., double time for working on a public holiday) are applied based on the holidays defined here.
- Dispatch -- Trip scheduling can account for holidays when planning driver availability.
Configuring holidays correctly is essential for accurate attendance tracking and payroll processing. Missing a public holiday can result in incorrect absence records and pay calculations for your entire workforce.
Viewing Holidays
The Holidays page displays all configured holidays for the current year, with the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Holiday Name | The name of the holiday (e.g., "National Day", "Eid Al Fitr") |
| Date(s) | The date or date range of the holiday |
| Type | Public Holiday or Company Holiday |
| Recurring | Whether the holiday repeats every year on the same date |
| Departments | Which departments are affected (All or specific departments) |
You can switch between viewing the current year and upcoming years using the year selector at the top of the page.
Holiday Types
TransportechAI supports two types of holidays:
Public Holidays
Public holidays are government-mandated non-working days that apply to all employees by default. These typically include national celebrations, religious observances, and statutory holidays.
| Attribute | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Applies to | All employees across all departments |
| Attendance impact | Day is excluded from attendance calculations |
| Leave impact | May not deduct leave balance (depends on leave policy) |
| Payroll impact | Holiday pay rates may apply for employees who work on these days |
Company Holidays
Company holidays are organization-specific non-working days that are not mandated by law. These might include company founding anniversaries, team-building days, or additional rest days.
| Attribute | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Applies to | All employees or specific departments (configurable) |
| Attendance impact | Day is excluded from attendance calculations for affected departments |
| Leave impact | Typically does not deduct leave balance |
| Payroll impact | Follows your company's holiday pay policy |
Creating a Holiday
To add a new holiday:
- Navigate to Settings > General > Holidays.
- Click the "Add Holiday" button.
- Fill in the holiday details.
- Click Save.
Fields
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday Name | Yes | A descriptive name (e.g., "UAE National Day", "Company Anniversary") |
| Start Date | Yes | The first day of the holiday |
| End Date | Yes | The last day of the holiday (same as start date for single-day holidays) |
| Holiday Type | Yes | Select "Public Holiday" or "Company Holiday" |
| Recurring | No | Enable if this holiday occurs on the same date(s) every year |
| Departments | No | For company holidays, select which departments are affected. Leave blank to apply to all. |
| Description | No | Additional notes or context about the holiday |
Single-Day vs. Multi-Day Holidays
- Single-day holiday: Set the Start Date and End Date to the same date.
- Multi-day holiday: Set the Start Date to the first day and the End Date to the last day. All dates in the range are treated as holidays.
Example: Eid Al Fitr might span 3 days -- set Start Date to the first day and End Date to the third day.
Recurring Holidays
Enable the Recurring toggle for holidays that occur on the same fixed date(s) every year (e.g., January 1 for New Year's Day, December 2 for UAE National Day).
Recurring holidays work well for fixed-date holidays but not for holidays whose dates change annually (such as Eid Al Fitr or Eid Al Adha, which follow the Hijri calendar). For variable-date holidays, create a new entry each year with the correct dates.
Editing a Holiday
To modify an existing holiday:
- Navigate to Settings > General > Holidays.
- Click on the holiday to open its details.
- Update the name, dates, type, or department assignments.
- Click Save.
Changing the dates of a past holiday may affect historical attendance and payroll records. Avoid modifying past holidays unless you are correcting an error, and be aware that a payroll recalculation may be needed.
Deleting a Holiday
To remove a holiday:
- Navigate to Settings > General > Holidays.
- Click on the holiday to open its details.
- Click the Delete button.
- Confirm the deletion.
Deleting a holiday removes it from the calendar. If the holiday has already passed and payroll has been processed for that period, the deletion does not retroactively change payroll records.
UAE Public Holidays Reference
For companies operating in the UAE, here are the standard public holidays to configure each year:
| Holiday | Typical Date | Duration | Fixed/Variable |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | January 1 | 1 day | Fixed |
| Eid Al Fitr | Varies (Hijri calendar) | 3-4 days | Variable |
| Arafat Day | Varies (Hijri calendar) | 1 day | Variable |
| Eid Al Adha | Varies (Hijri calendar) | 3-4 days | Variable |
| Hijri New Year | Varies (Hijri calendar) | 1 day | Variable |
| Prophet's Birthday | Varies (Hijri calendar) | 1 day | Variable |
| Commemoration Day | November 30 | 1 day | Fixed |
| UAE National Day | December 2-3 | 2 days | Fixed |
Variable-date holidays following the Hijri calendar are typically announced by the UAE government each year. Update these holidays as soon as official dates are confirmed to ensure accurate scheduling and attendance tracking.
How Holidays Interact with Other Modules
Attendance
When a holiday is configured:
- Employees scheduled to work on that day are not marked as absent.
- If an employee clocks in on a public holiday, the system records the attendance but may flag it as a holiday shift for payroll purposes.
- The attendance summary excludes holidays from working-day calculations.
Leave
The interaction between holidays and leave depends on your leave policy settings (configured in Settings > HR > Leave):
| Policy Setting | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Exclude holidays from leave | If a public holiday falls within an approved leave period, that day is not deducted from the leave balance. A 5-day leave request covering a 1-day holiday consumes only 4 leave days. |
| Include holidays in leave | Holidays within a leave period are counted as leave days. The full requested duration is deducted. |
Payroll
Holidays can affect payroll calculations in the following ways:
| Scenario | Payroll Impact |
|---|---|
| Employee does not work on holiday | Regular pay (no deduction) |
| Employee works on public holiday | Holiday pay rate applies (e.g., 1.5x or 2x, as configured in payroll settings) |
| Holiday falls on a rest day | Depends on company policy -- may or may not grant a compensatory day off |
Scheduling
- Work schedules display holidays as marked days on the calendar.
- Automatic schedule generation can be configured to skip holidays or include them with holiday-rate flags.
Department-Specific Holidays
For company holidays that apply to only certain departments:
- When creating or editing the holiday, find the Departments field.
- Select the specific departments that observe this holiday.
- Employees in other departments will have a normal working day.
Use case: A company might give the Sales team a day off for a sales kickoff event while Operations continues to run. Or a regional office might have a local holiday that does not apply to other locations.
Best Practices
- Set up holidays at the start of each year -- Configure all known holidays for the upcoming year before January. This ensures attendance and scheduling systems are accurate from day one.
- Update variable holidays promptly -- As soon as Hijri-calendar holiday dates are officially announced, update them in the system.
- Communicate changes -- If you add, modify, or remove a holiday mid-year, notify affected employees and managers so they can adjust their plans.
- Use recurring for fixed dates only -- Mark holidays as recurring only when they fall on the exact same date every year. Do not use recurring for variable-date holidays.
- Coordinate with payroll -- Before modifying past holidays, consult with your payroll team to understand the impact on processed pay periods.
- Review annually -- At the end of each year, review the holiday list and prepare the next year's entries.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Employee marked absent on a holiday | Verify the holiday is configured for the correct date and applies to the employee's department. |
| Holiday not deducting from leave correctly | Check the leave policy settings under Settings > HR > Leave to verify the holiday-exclusion rule. |
| Holiday pay rate not applying | Ensure the payroll configuration includes holiday pay multipliers and that the employee's attendance was recorded on the holiday. |
| Recurring holiday showing wrong date | For variable-date holidays, disable recurring and create a new entry each year with the correct dates. |
| Cannot see holidays for next year | Use the year selector at the top of the page to switch to the upcoming year. If no holidays are listed, they have not been configured yet. |