In Germany, there are numerous statutory public holidays that are automatically stored as non-working days in the standard calendar and time recording systems.
These include New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour Day, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, German Unity Day and the two Christmas holidays on 25 and 26 December. Depending on the federal state, there may also be other public holidays, such as Reformation Day (31 October) or All Saints' Day (1 November) or the Three Kings' Day on 6 January.
These public holidays are legally protected and must be taken into account by employers accordingly.
However, the situation is different for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. These are not public holidays in Germany. For this reason, they are not automatically entered as days off in time or holiday systems. Nevertheless, a variety of regulations have been established in company practice that treat these two days as special holidays.
Many companies decide to give their employees full or partial time off on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. However, this time off is voluntary on the part of the employer and is not based on legal requirements, but on individual company regulations, collective agreements or company traditions. The specific structure can vary - from half a day off from midday to a full day off work to integration into a longer company holiday between the years. Depending on the model, the time off can either be granted as a gift or made possible through the use of holiday days or overtime.
As Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not automatically recognised as public holidays, they must be maintained manually in digital systems if they are considered (partially) non-working days. Failure to make this adjustment can result in incorrect postings - for example, due to unnecessary holiday deductions or incorrect working time calculations.
It is therefore advisable to make these settings directly during the initial setup. This also provides clarity and certainty on this recurring annual topic.
It is equally important to communicate the company's internal rules around Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve clearly and in good time. Whether a day is completely or only partially work-free, whether holiday days have to be used for this and whether the regulations apply to all locations and departments should be communicated transparently and in writing. Why not store the rules digitally for your employees so that they can refer to them at any time?
This clarity not only creates planning security for employees, but also avoids misunderstandings in operational processes.