Bank holidays create the same problem every year. You know they are coming. Your team knows they are coming. And yet, every time, you end up short-staffed, fielding last-minute requests, and offering expensive overtime to fill shifts.

Here is how to stop that cycle.

Why Bank Holidays Are Different

Bank holidays concentrate leave requests in a single point. On a normal week, if 3 out of 20 staff request time off, you can usually cover it. On a bank holiday, 12 out of 20 might want the day - and you still need 10 people on the floor.

The second problem: premium pay. Many employment contracts (or collective agreements) specify enhanced rates for bank holiday work - typically 1.5x or 2x basic pay. A shift that costs €120 on a Tuesday costs €180-€240 on a bank holiday. For a team of 30, a single bank holiday can add €3,000-€5,000 to your weekly labour bill.

Build Your Policy First

Before you open requests for any bank holiday, write down the rules:

  • How many staff do you need per shift?
  • What is your minimum skeleton crew for each department?
  • What is your enhanced pay rate (if any)?
  • How do you decide who gets leave when you receive more requests than you can approve?

Common fairness models:

  • First-come, first-served (simple, but rewards the most organised staff)
  • Rotational (staff who worked last bank holiday get priority off this time)
  • Random ballot (perceived as fair, but unpredictable for planning)
  • Seniority (common in unionised workplaces, resented in others)

Pick one. Document it. Apply it consistently. Inconsistency is what leads to grievances.

Open Requests Early

For a bank holiday on a Monday, open the request window 6-8 weeks before. Close it 3 weeks before. This gives you:

  • Time to see how many requests you have before approving any
  • Time to negotiate with staff who want to swap
  • Time to find cover if you are still short after approvals

Managers who wait until 2 weeks before always end up scrambling.

The Volunteer Premium

If you are genuinely short for a bank holiday, offer a small volunteer premium before mandating attendance. An extra €30-€50 per shift brings out volunteers faster than a memo and keeps goodwill intact. Mandating attendance - especially at short notice - builds resentment that costs far more in turnover and disengagement over time.

If your contracted rate already includes a bank holiday premium, you are paying for coverage either way. The question is whether the people on that shift chose to be there.

Shift Swaps

Bank holidays are the peak time for swap requests. Staff who got leave approved will swap with colleagues who want the day off but were not approved. This is fine - as long as the swap results in someone with the right skills and authorisation level on each shift.

Build a swap approval step into your process. A manager should review every swap before it is confirmed. A swap between a senior team member and a new hire with different responsibilities can leave you compliant on headcount but short on capability.

Planning the Rota

When building the bank holiday rota:

  1. Start with your minimum required headcount per shift
  2. Identify who is contractually obliged to work (some contracts specify bank holiday working)
  3. Add volunteers
  4. Fill gaps through approved requests
  5. Publish with at least 3 weeks notice

Staff who get 3+ weeks notice accept bank holiday requirements with far less friction than those told 5 days before.

Tracking Who Worked When

Keep a running record of which staff worked each bank holiday and which took leave. This is your evidence base if anyone disputes a rota decision, and it powers your rotational fairness model if that is the approach you use.

Rezano.lv tracks shift records, leave approvals, and swap history in one place, so you can see at a glance who is due a bank holiday off next.

Try it at rezano.lv.