Survey: 97% of employers providing paid day off on Labor Day

BLOOMBERG BNA POLLED 108 human resource professionals and found that 97 percent of employers will provide a paid day off for all or most employees on Labor Day. / COURTESY BLOOMBERG BNA
BLOOMBERG BNA POLLED 108 human resource professionals and found that 97 percent of employers will provide a paid day off for all or most employees on Labor Day. / COURTESY BLOOMBERG BNA

PROVIDENCE – A nationwide survey found that 97 percent of employers will provide a paid day off for all or most employees on Labor Day, Sept. 7, but that 41 percent will require some employees to work the holiday.
The survey, from Bloomberg BNA, said that 86 percent of employers requiring some employees to work on Labor Day also will provide something more in their workers’ paychecks.
Bloomberg BNA surveyed more than 100 human resource professionals for the study. It said the results are nearly identical to a 2013 holiday practices survey. They also match a similar survey conducted about working on Memorial Day.
“Our research indicates that once again the preponderance of employers will provide a paid day off on Labor Day,” Tony Harris, managing editor of human resource publications at Bloomberg BNA, said in a statement. “However, not everyone will enjoy a labor-free holiday as security and public safety personnel will be among those going to work on Sept. 7. Fortunately, 86 percent of employers requiring at least some employees to work on Labor Day will provide a little something extra in their workers’ paychecks.”

Those who work in the technical or security and public safety sectors are most likely to work on the holiday, according to the survey. Fifteen percent of responding organizations said they would have security or public safety personnel and technical workers report on Sept. 7. Thirteen percent said professional employees will work the holiday, 11 percent will ensure managers or supervisors are working, while 10 percent will have service or maintenance staff and sales and customer service personnel on the clock.

Of those that plan to pay employees extra for working the holiday, time-and-a-half pay is the most popular at 27 percent, followed by both extra pay and compensatory time at 18 percent, double-time pay at 16 percent or other form of extra pay at 16 percent and comp time in addition to regular pay, 9 percent. Less than one in 10 organizations – 9 percent – will provide just regular pay.
And, 80 percent of large organizations – those with 1,000 or more employees – will require at least some employees to work on Labor Day, compared with only 29 percent of smaller organizations.
Fifty-six percent of non-business organizations — such as hospitals, government agencies and municipalities — will require at least some employees to be on staff on Labor Day compared with only 35 percent of nonmanufacturers and 30 percent of manufacturers, Bloomberg BNA said.

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