A restricted holiday is a holiday that is optional for the employee from a pre-approved list of cultural, religious, or regional observances. Restricted holidays differ from gazetted holidays in that gazetted holidays are fixed holidays that everyone must observe. Restricted holidays are personal and flexible in that the employee chooses the holidays that are most significant to them. Restricted holidays are paid time off that is usually limited to 1 to 3 days a year, depending on the number of restricted holidays the employee can take.
The official list of restricted holidays is normally made available by the organisation early in the calendar year. The list normally includes Mahashivratri, Eid, Onam, Good Friday, Guru Nanak Jayanti, and Buddha Purnima (depending on location and composition of workforce). Employees choose from the list, but they must apply for and obtain managements or HR’s approval before taking the leave. This part of the process is important so organisations can continue to operate effectively while still providing flexibility for employees to practice their own traditions.
Assessment of restricted holidays usually includes all regular full-time employees, and possibly part-time or contracted employees, depending on what is stipulated in the policy. The stipulations usually say restricted holidays cannot be carried over into the next entitlement year, and there is usually a limit on how many employees can be on restricted holidays on the same day. The intent behind having restricted holidays is to ensure everyone has an opportunity to take a day off for special celebrations, acknowledge cultural differences, provide a level of employee satisfaction, and remain productive in the business.
A restricted holiday is a form of optional leave that an employee may take from a list of culturally or religiously significant observances, which is pre-approved outside of a standard paid holiday offered by the organization.
A restricted holiday is one that employees can choose individually rather than collectively as a company. These tend to be cultural or religious days and not an observed gazetted holiday but are important for some communities or individuals.
Organizations create a restricted holiday list at the beginning of every year; employees can request a few of these holidays based on their preference. This list of restricted holidays is pre-approved; it still must also go through an availability and then requests must go through HR or their manager, just like any regular leave request.
Restricted holidays benefit from an inclusive perspective, allowing every member of the team to acknowledge important days in some way, without hindering customer service because not everyone acknowledges the occasion on the same day.
Below is a table summarising some commonly included restricted holidays in India for 2025:
| Date | Occasion | Region/Community |
|---|
(Note: The final list may differ by organization; this is illustrative.)
Restricted holidays allow employees the flexibility to celebrate festivals or special days that are important to them, which may not appear on the organisation's official holiday list. In most organisations, all regular full-time employees are entitled to restricted holidays. Entitlement may also include permanent employees, and in some cases, part-time and contract employees, depending on the organisation’s leave policy.
Usually, for employees to access restricted holidays, they must:
The concept is about fairness and effective business operations. Everybody has an equal opportunity to take those optional days, but they must comply with some parameters so as not to affect the overall operation of work. In this way, to honour their traditions, employees can accomplish it while the organisation continues to operate successfully.
Restricted holidays are more than just days off; they are also a consideration of personal needs, as employees who have personal values will sometimes wish to take time off for certain days for personal reasons. Here are four reasons why restricted holidays are a good idea and why they are meaningful.
Every employee has their own set of cultural or religious customs and traditions. Restricted holidays give employees the flexible option to take time off for engagements that are meaningful to them without attempting to change the formal holiday calendar of the company. So, business continues as usual while accommodating individual needs.
The workforce today has rich diversity with people from different religions, regions, and cultures represented across workplaces. Restricted holidays allow a company to provide non-value learning options so that everyone feels their customs or actions are valued and respected, respectively. It reflects a message that the organisation recognises and accepts diversity and values the richness it adds to its workplace.
When an employee is allowed to observe significant personal days, they feel that trust and care are demonstrated by their employers. Employees who enjoy their jobs will be happier and will have strengthened loyalty from their employers, thus increasing morale and overall engagement at work.
Restricted holidays are planned ahead of time and approved; therefore, not everyone is away from work at the same time. Employers can restrict the number of people off simultaneously, which allows for the necessary prioritising and honouring of cultural and personal engagements while minimising productivity or operational declines.
Restricted holidays are designed to afford employees flexibility while ensuring that productivity can be maintained. Companies typically will schedule restricted holidays and use rules to govern the holidays, to help guarantee that employees can plan their time off as a team to combine productivity in their work.
Employees are encouraged to make advance requests for scheduled leave, so managers have an opportunity to plan workloads and make arrangements. This shows consideration for business continuity and keeps daily operations running smoothly.
All scheduled leave requests must go through the approval process of the employee's manager or the HR department. If multiple employees request time off for the same dates, the employee who made the first request will get priority, and alternative dates may be offered to the others for fairness.
Generally, organisations will set a limit on scheduled holidays that employees may be able to take at any time per year, where typically employees are allowed scheduled holidays between one and three times a year. Quota limits encourage fairness among employees and ensure that organisations are adequately staffed at all times throughout the year.
Unused scheduled holidays cannot normally carry over to the next calendar year. Any untaken days at year's end will expire, encouraging an employee to think ahead and take advantage of the time off benefit within the defined time frame.
Some organisations facilitate some flexibility relating to leave substitution. If the scheduled holiday occurs on a weekend or public holiday, the employee may apply to take an alternate day off, subject to discussion and approval by HR or management, for reasons of fairness and operational feasibility.
The exact number of restricted holidays employees may have available in a year is based on the organisation’s leave policy, but for most employees, it is likely between 1 and 3 days. Restricted holidays are optional, meaning that employees can pick which holidays they may wish to observe from the official list to be provided at the beginning of the year, depending on the cultural, religious, or personal significance associated with the day.
To use a restricted holiday, employees must request the day off in advance. Normally, it has to be approved at the discretion of the manager or Human Resources (HR) before an employee exercises this entitlement. The restriction protects the organisation by managing not too many employees taking restricted holidays on the same day, which assists in keeping the operations of the organisation intact.
Finally, it is always good practice to remember that unused restricted holidays do not carry forward to the next year, and if not used in the calendar year, they simply lapse. The benefits associated with restricted holidays encourage employees to make plans for their time off and utilise the benefit.
