Laboring on Labor Day

With Labor Day—and the unofficial end of summer—fast approaching, 97 percent of employers will provide a paid day off for all or most employees on the holiday being celebrated Sept. 7, according to a nationwide Bloomberg BNA survey of more than 100 human resource professionals.  However, more than two in five employers, or 41 percent, indicated that they will require some employees to work on the holiday. These figures are virtually identical to the company’s 2013 holiday practices survey.

“Our research indicates that once again the preponderance of employers will provide a paid day off on Labor Day,” says Tony Harris, managing editor of Human Resource Publications at Bloomberg BNA. “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.

Fifteen percent of all responding organizations will have security or public safety personnel and technical workers report to work on September 7. Thirteen percent of organizations will have professional employees at work on Labor Day, 11 percent will ensure managers or supervisors are working on the holiday, and 10 percent will have service/maintenance staff and sales and customer service personnel on the clock.

The vast majority of organizations—86 percent—that have at least some employees work on Labor Day will provide something more than regular pay for their holiday labor, including time-and-a-half pay (27 percent), both extra pay and compensatory time (18 percent), double-time pay (16 percent), an “other” form of extra pay such as double-time-and-a-half (16 percent) or comp time in addition to regular pay (9 percent). Less than one in 10 organizations, or 9 percent, that require at least some workers to be on duty on Labor Day will provide just regular pay.

Eighty percent of large organizations—those with 1,000 or more employees—will require at least some employees to work on Labor Day, compared to only 29 percent of smaller organizations. Fifty-six percent of nonprofits and government organizations, such as hospitals, government agencies and municipalities, will require at least some employees to be on staff on Labor Day as compared to only 35 percent of non-manufacturers and 30 percent of manufacturers.