Holiday Calendar
Holiday calendars define the official public holidays and weekly off days for your organisation. Each calendar holds its own list of holidays plus a set of weekly off days, so you can support employees in different regions or with different work schedules.
What you can do here:
- Create multiple holiday calendars (one per country, region, or work pattern)
- Add public holidays and company-wide days off for a specific year
- Configure which days of the week count as weekly off days
- Mark a calendar as the default for new employees
Page Layout
The page has two side-by-side sections:
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Calendars | Lists every holiday calendar in your workspace. Each row shows the calendar name, a Default badge if applicable, and a row of S M T W T F S letters where the highlighted letters indicate the weekly off days. The Add Calendar button is in the top-right of this section. |
| Holidays | Shows holidays for the selected calendar grouped by month. Use the year dropdown to switch years and the Add Holiday button to add a new entry. |
The week indicator (S M T W T F S) on each calendar row makes it easy to spot calendars with non-standard weekends — for example, a UAE calendar with Friday/Saturday off shows different highlighted letters than one with Saturday/Sunday off.
How to Create a Holiday Calendar
- Go to Settings > Leave > Holiday Calendar
- Click Add Calendar in the top-right of the Calendars section
- Fill in the calendar details
- Pick the weekly off days
- Click Create Calendar
Calendar Form Fields
| Field | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Code | A short unique identifier used in reports and integrations. Examples: UAE, IND, UK. | Yes |
| Name | The display name shown in the calendar list and on employee profiles. Examples: “UAE Standard Calendar”, “India Calendar”. | Yes |
| Description | A brief explanation of who this calendar applies to. | No |
| Weekly Off Days | Tick the days of the week that count as regular days off for employees on this calendar. Sun and Sat are checked by default. | Yes |
| Default Calendar | ON: New employees are auto-assigned to this calendar. Only one calendar can be the default at a time. OFF: Manual assignment required. Default: OFF. | No |
| Active | ON: Calendar is available for assignment. OFF: Calendar is hidden but existing assignments remain. Default: ON. | No |
Weekly Off Days
The weekly off days drive several behaviours across the system:
- They are excluded from leave calculations by default — requesting leave that spans a weekly off day doesn’t deduct balance for that day (unless the leave type has Include Weekends Between turned ON)
- They show as off days in attendance tracking
- They are visually highlighted in scheduling views
For regions where the weekend is Friday–Saturday (UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc.), uncheck Sun and check Fri instead of leaving the default Sun/Sat selection.
How to Add a Holiday
- In the Calendars list, click the calendar you want to add a holiday to (or use the calendar tab in the Holidays panel)
- Click Add Holiday in the top-right of the Holidays section
- Fill in the holiday details
- Click Add Holiday
Holiday Form Fields
| Field | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The name of the holiday. Examples: “Eid Al Fitr”, “New Year’s Day”, “UAE National Day”. | Yes |
| Start Date | The date the holiday begins. Defaults to today. | Yes |
| End Date | The date the holiday ends. For single-day holidays, leave it equal to Start Date. For multi-day holidays (e.g., Eid Al Fitr Day 1–3), set it to the last day of the holiday — every day in the range is marked as a holiday. | No |
| Half Day | ON: The day counts as half a day off. Employees get credited for half a working day. OFF: The day is a full day off. Default: OFF. | No |
For multi-day holidays you can either create a single entry spanning the full range (e.g., Start Date Mar 20, End Date Mar 22) or three separate entries (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) — both work, and the second is what the default UAE calendar uses.
Viewing Holidays
The Holidays panel shows all holidays for the currently selected calendar.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Calendar tabs | Each calendar appears as a tab at the top of the panel. Click to switch which calendar’s holidays are shown. |
| Year dropdown | Pick the year you want to view (e.g., 2026). Holidays are stored per year. |
| Total count | The “X holidays” label at the top-right tells you how many holidays the calendar has for the selected year. |
| Month grouping | Holidays are grouped by month with a header showing the month name and the holiday count for that month. |
| Holiday card | Each holiday displays the day number, day-of-week abbreviation, the holiday name, and the calendar date. |
Example month: March showing 3 holidays — Eid Al Fitr Day 1 (20 Fri), Day 2 (21 Sat), Day 3 (22 Sun).
How to Edit or Delete
Edit a Calendar
Click on the calendar’s row in the Calendars list, or click the ⋯ menu next to it and choose Edit. Update name, description, weekly off days, or status, then save.
Delete a Calendar
Click the ⋯ menu next to a calendar and select Delete.
You cannot delete a calendar that’s assigned to employees. First reassign those employees to a different calendar, then delete.
Edit or Delete a Holiday
Click the ⋯ menu next to a holiday entry to Edit the name, dates, or half-day setting, or Delete it from the calendar.
Best Practices
-
Plan ahead — add holidays for the whole year at the start of each year so leave calculations are accurate from January.
-
Verify lunar-calendar holidays each year — Eid, Ramadan, Islamic New Year, and Prophet’s Birthday shift dates each year. Update them once the official calendar is published.
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Use clear names — “New Year’s Day” reads better than “Jan 1” in reports and on employee dashboards.
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Match weekly off days to the work week — if your team works Sunday–Thursday (Gulf workweek), set Friday and Saturday as the weekly off days, not Saturday and Sunday.
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Create one calendar per region — separate calendars for UAE, India, UK, etc., are easier to maintain than one giant calendar with overlapping rules.
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Always set a default — without one, new employees won’t have any holiday calendar attached and their leave/attendance calculations won’t account for public holidays.
When a public holiday falls on a weekly off day, check local labour law — some jurisdictions require a substitute day off in lieu. Add the substitute day as a separate holiday entry.