It’s August Bank holiday 2023 and there I was, yet again, stuck in my home office.
Outside, it was muggy and cloudy – certainly not the weather to entice me out to the beaches near my home on the south coast.
But, even if it had been brilliant sunshine, there was no way I’d have braved it.
The majority of the time, my area is a quiet, rural spot near the South Downs National Park with good connections.
But, for eight days of the year, if I want to make use of these good connections, most routes, especially the M27 and A3 become overrun by visitors trying to make the most of an extended weekend.
Last year, I worked the whole day Monday. For the estimated 4.2million solo self-employed and freelance workers like me, deciding to do this is often a no-brainer.
Like the immortal inquiry from Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess of Grantham: ‘What is a weekend?’ many freelancers could be forgiven for asking ‘What is a bank holiday?’
Given that we get no holiday pay, many of us have to work them just to keep the income flowing.
This year, barring any last-minute, pressing invites from family or friends, I’ll be doing exactly that – and I’m happy with my choice!
Everyone who lives in these islands knows that British bank holiday weather is meh at best (at worst it’s downright brutal) and they bring chaos: highway-clogging hoards, packed public events and rail works.
In May this year, on our last public holiday weekend, the RAC predicted that 20million of us would be taking to the roads and considering that it’s only one day tacked on to the weekend, it seems incredible to me that so many willingly put themselves through all this crowd and traffic stress at the same time.
Yet I’m not suggesting for one minute that we do away with paid public holidays entirely – especially when you consider that England and Wales have some of the lowest allocations of any country in Europe, with just eight a year. Scotland has nine and Northern Ireland, a relatively whopping 10.
What I am led to wonder is why we keep dictating to vast numbers of the population when they should take a paid day off?
Isn’t it time we are allowed to choose?
I understand that in something like a factory setting – one that can’t operate with half the workforce missing – it isn’t always feasible to let everyone decide which random day they would like to take off. Bosses need to be able to plan ahead for rotas and safety issues.
However, in other situations, it seems completely unfair to make people take a prescribed day off.
When you consider that employers can include these holidays as part of statutory leave, employees should have more ability to choose to work a bank holiday and take another day off in lieu.
Most people understand why Christmas and Boxing Day are UK public holidays but surely, many people would prefer to take an extra day to celebrate Eid rather than have a mandatory day off because of the Spring bank holiday. They might like to celebrate Diwali, rather than Easter Monday.
Or perhaps they would just like a day off at a time of their choosing for holiday, family time or to themselves, to catch up on life without needing to justify the reason via an ‘official’ holiday.
Some companies, like energy supplier OVO pursue a flexible policy, whereby staff can choose to work on a number of bank holidays, then take a different day off when it suits them.
In April last year it published the results of new research that showed that nearly three in four UK workers (72%) would like to have flexible bank holidays.
Just over 50% said their top reason was to be able to make other special occasions such as weddings, while over a third would use the time off for religious and cultural events, with 31% saying they would use it to save money for foreign travel.
Of all the bank holidays, UK workers most want to swap out the late May spring bank holiday, it revealed.
Meanwhile, the audit, tax and advisory firm, Grant Thornton, which also offers flexible bank holidays, estimates around 20% of its workforce are now choosing to work this way.
I know people will argue that it’s too difficult to change, and question what would happen to a workplace if everyone wanted the same date off, such as a big weekday match during a World Cup?
But canny employers already cater for this kind of situation.
Take the recent England v Spain Euros final for example, supermarkets Tesco and Sainsburys closed stores an hour early to allow staff to watch the game while fitness company Gymshark announced on LinkedIn that its UK-based workers would get the Monday after the Sunday match off.
Plus, there are 365 days in a year – I can’t believe that many organisations are going to see masses of staff all choose the same day.
For sole trader writers like me and, I guess, many other trades too, bank holidays are more of a hindrance – they are frequently just ordinary work days with additional hassle.
I find there are fewer people around to get hold of for a quick quote, and then there’s the blizzard of out-of-office replies to our frantic email inquiries, which can be an issue if you have a strict deadline.
And, while most councils and assistance charities have out of hours helplines, other services, such as HMRC’s phone helpline says it’s closed on bank holidays – which, ironically, may be the one time some people have to attend to their tax issue.
If it was down to me, I’d keep Christmas and Boxing Day, then give workers in as many industries as possible the choice of whether to work the other bank holidays and take the time back when it suited them.
I hope more employers start doing this because I think it would make for a happier workforce who could take days off that were more meaningful to them and their lives.
As for me, if I was in a contracted job, I’d work through the soggy Spring bank holidays and New Year’s Day, too – then apply to take off a couple of sunny Fridays in September. There’s nothing like soaking up the last of the sun on a deserted beach before we quietly slip into autumn.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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