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Holidays and Observances

Holidays and observances at work might be most recognized as some of your employee’s guaranteed vacation days, but there’s so much more to it than a day off. Holidays and observances are significant moments in employee’s lives, and they can have personal, societal, religious or spiritual meaning. Understanding how to make the most of holidays and observances at work can make your workplace a more inclusive place as you recognize each employee’s individuality. 

A holiday is defined as a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done. Whereas an observance is an act performed for religious or ceremonial reasons. For example, a holiday is a day like Christmas or Diwali. An observance, for our purposes, is still a day of festivity or recreation, but we’ve separated it from internationally recognized holidays. Examples of observances in Pyn are LGBTQIA+ Pride Month or Bring Your Kids To Work Day. 

With Pyn, you have access to over 50 different communications related to holidays and observances (and we’re always adding more!) that you can send automatically before, on, or after the holiday or observance.

In the Open Library, you can access all of this content for free. This page is your starting point to learning more about holidays and observances, from Lunar New Year to MLK Day and more. Looking for employee communication about a holiday or observance that’s not listed here? Email us at hello@pynhq.com and we’ll create it. 

Holiday employee communications

If you’re in the United States, we recommend that you check out our article, U.S. Paid Holidays by Law: a Guide for HR and Comms Leaders, to start. This resource provides the information you need about paid holidays by law in the United States and how to create a successful policy at your company.

Observances