Should Bank Holidays be scrapped?

[Catlover1705]

Talking about an extra one if England win got me thinking about whether they should be scrapped. They cost the economy a lot of money and many sectors such as retail don't get them off. I would prefer additional leave so I can choose my days off. I normally stay home bank hols as the traffic is awful.

Yrs...lets just make life all about work, money and making orofit for the 1%
I agree that everywhere is too busy though. As a AHP, I like to work them for the extra ££ but i don't begrudge others for wanting time off.

Sorry for typos.

I compressed my working week and have Mondays off, specifically because of bank holidays. I work out with a bit more leave because I never have to use leave time on a bank holiday Monday. In fact, if someone in my company works on a bank holiday, they get paid and TOIL. We would not be happy to use that.

Some sectors have a massive uptick in trade on a bank holiday too. Yes, not everyone gets them off but those that don't can use the time at a time of their choosing, generally.

I am self employed and usually offer clients the option of coming on bank holidays. Most choose too, they say it is too busy to do anything like go to the coast.

Yes, they're now useless and pointless just like Sundays. Just let everyone choose the days they want off. An extra several days holiday per year where you can choose what to do and where to go is a lot more beneficial than several random days. If people want a Monday off at the end of August, they can choose that themselves from their full annual holiday entitlement - it shouldn't be forced upon them.

Why would you want less time off?

You don't have to use it if you don't want to.

Likewise, I tend to work bank holidays because they'd be wasted if I didn't. Roads are too busy, attractions are too busy, cafes/restaurants are too busy. I just take random days off at other times when things are quieter which is far more enjoyable. Clients like the option of meetings on bank holidays because a lot of them find it a wasted day too, such as tradesmen who can't work because their suppliers, builders merchants, etc are closed, so they have nowhere to go in the middle of a job if they need to buy something unexpectedly. They try to do admin/management on bank holidays so that they can concentrate on chargeable work on other days.

In my previous job, it was an old fashioned accountant's office who not only were closed on bank holidays, they were closed the day after too! So closed on the Tuesday after every Bank Holiday Monday, an extra day after Boxing Day and New Years Day etc. It meant staff only had 3 weeks per year of actual "choose-able" holiday as the rest of the statutory holiday entitlement was used up by bank holidays and the extra day afterwards! It was one of the many reasons I decided to leave after just a couple of years, as did many other staff - it was only the "old guard" who'd been there for decades who liked it.

They are crap because many people have to take them out of their leave allowance so then have even less days they can choose.

If there's going to be a bank holiday if the men win the football, there needs to be another one, rather belatedly, for the women in 2022.

Do they 'cost' money or just reduce the amount made?
Not everything is about money, and we should be looking to how we can reduce working hours and increase leisure time. The modern world has all this technology and automation, yet we still have long working hours as the benefit hasn't been shared; the time/effort saved has been used to increase profits (as well as track, monitor and set our productivity in Orwellian fashion). We need to stop thinking about only money being of worth and consider quality of life and wellbeing as the most important outcome (of which money forms some part, of course).

Why should I pay my staff for another random day off and lose money? Not just their wages, but the work they cannot attend as they aren't there.
It's very hard for small businesses to stay afloat and keep people in jobs as it is.

This

Who could be so joyless? Who?
Working life is thankless enough and poorly paid for most.
Away tae fuck 🤣🤣🤣

Funny that so many on here are wanting an extra bank holiday for the football final, but at the same time, posting on other threads that they hate football, hate football fans, etc. Sounds a bit hypocritical to me. Presumably those who hate football will happily waive their right to any possible extra bank holiday!!

it's all very well people saying "let's have another BH" but if someone's contract states "20 days +8 BH" where does that extra day come from if those 20 days are already booked in?

Yes I would. I'd rather have a day off when I want one not because one was foisted on me for the most ridiculous of reasons, such as people succeeding in doing the job they are paid to do.

Quite agree. All a Bank Holiday means is trying to fit 5 days' work into 4.

Exactly. The ‘economy’ isn’t harmed. Some do worse, some better.

Maybe for you! Not for me.

I agree.

And last minute ones are really rubbish like the one for the Queen's funeral. How many people had operations and hospital appointments cancelled?

BHs for me are a mix blessing. Previous employers when closed on BHs, hated that as wanted to have days off when I want them.

Now I work BHs, customers think we close at 4pm - nope normal hours and just drag. I usually book at least one BH off - usually 1st Monday in May

Do you decline to take annual leave on this basis, too?

Oh i remember i couldn’t book one BH off when working for a call centre. Buses to it were 9-17 - bit crap as did 8am starts and had to get taxi.

Normally buses ran 5-22