Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs has given civil servants an extra day off on April 28. In a signed letter she said their “continued hard work and dedication throughout the past two years under some of the most challenging circumstances did not go unnoticed.”
Her main reasoning is that because Wednesday, April 27, is King’s Day and Friday, April 29, is the Carnival holiday, the personnel would have to come back to work only for Thursday.
At the risk of being called the Grinch who stole Christmas, let’s consider the ramifications of this decision. Because Labour Day falls on a Sunday, it is being observed on Monday, May 2. That means government is basically closed for almost an entire week, from Wednesday, April 28 until Tuesday, May 3.
One can’t help but wonder about service to the public especially regarding matters where backlogs and/or long waiting times already exist, including various permits and other papers. Keep in mind that Good Friday and Easter Monday were holidays too.
The number of working weekdays in April is thus reduced from 21 to 17, by close to 25 per cent. On top of that, there are two holidays in May with Labour Day and Ascension Day as well.
The intention here is not taking away people’s days off, but merely to point out that such gestures have consequences. Hopefully efforts of staff on the remaining days can significantly make up the difference so society does not notice much.
Although public holidays are great, their impact also on the private sector is often overlooked. Employers that pay fixed monthly salaries will do so for less hours, affecting productivity, while fixed expenses like rent don’t go down.
Staying open can be an option except on mandatory closure days like Good Friday. However, it requires extra pay and the demand on holidays often simply doesn’t justify this added expense.
In any case, whoever needs to get business with government done by the end of this month better hurry, because the available days are fast running out.
