Nepal has become a new country for many in terms of public holidays. In few countries of the world, Sunday is an office day. For this reason, foreigners who come to Nepal and spend a few days question about public holidays here.

It is natural to question how the sudden leave could have happened because the last government has given leave to mourn the death of a person in a position or an accident. 

Lately, the topic of public holidays has started to be discussed internally. Some time ago, former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai started a debate on public holidays through social media and wrote - 'There are too many public holidays in Nepal, let's cut them.' He suggested that public holidays should be reduced due to the fact that due to the large number of holidays, people are not able to provide effective work, even though the employees have to work, almost two months of the year fall on Saturdays and the state and local levels have an increasing tendency to give holidays in their own way. Because both of these contexts have received good media space, in this article, an attempt has been made to connect the world environment with Nepal in the context of public holidays. 

As mentioned above, are there many public holidays in Nepal? The statistics don't say that. There are two types of public holidays, one is a holiday on every weekend and the other is a holiday on various festivals. Nepal is the leader in the world in celebrating public holidays except weekends. In 2080, government offices were closed for 35 days, but this year, offices are closed for 34 days in the name of public holidays, including 27 festivals and 7 other celebrations. But even on weekends, there are very few public holidays celebrated by Nepal. In the West, holidays for festivals and celebrations are 10 to 20 days a year. The two-day weekend observed there means that offices are closed for more days than in Nepal, and employees get more holidays. 

In America, which celebrates only 11 days of holidays and festivals, the office is closed for 115 days a year and employees are allowed to stay at home. In the current state of Nepal, there are 51 to 52 days of holidays on weekends or Saturdays, 34 to 35 days of holidays on festivals and celebrations. If you add 2-3 days of emergency leave for someone's death or accident, it is found to be 90 days at most, i.e. 25 days less than in the US. This is 45 days less than Myanmar, 40 days less than Iran and Sri Lanka, 36 days less than India and almost 30 days less than China. There is a total of 5 hours saved in reference to office hours starting at 9 am and 10 am implemented in most government offices in Nepal. Even if we add 2-3 hours on Fridays, these limited hours cannot be said to be very productive in terms of quality family time of the employees due to the time spent in preparing for going to and from the office.

weekend practice 

Looking at the history of weekend leave, American car manufacturer Henry Ford reduced working hours from 6 to 5 days in 1926, 99 years before today. Quoting his son, Edsel Ford, the New York Times wrote: "Every man needs more than 1 day a week for rest and recreation." For every person to live qualitatively, it is necessary to make arrangements so that he spends more time with his family.' 

In Nepal, two days a week holiday started from May 15, 2022, but it was canceled after less than a month. Giving the reason for cancellation, it was said that leave was given to save on fuel, but it did not happen. On the other hand, the pressure of taking jobs in the office increased.' 

Finding results in the very next week of starting such an arrangement and based on the experience of 3-4 weeks, it was clear that the objective was not successful. Having barely two days off in a week, the first few weeks were definitely spent in meetings that I could not do before, visiting places that I could not go to, etc. Gradually that time was spent at home, with relatives and friends and for entertainment. Another weakness at that time was that while the government was imposing that rule, it was not applicable to other sectors that were providing more employment than the government. It seems that the Administrative Restructuring Commission formed with the restoration of the multi-party system has recommended to make office hours 5 days a week. Although the recommendation was not immediately implemented, the then Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai tried to implement it in Kathmandu Valley. But that effort was withdrawn after less than a year. After two decades, when Yogesh Bhattarai became the Minister of Tourism, it seems that the discussion of 2 days off in a week was raised in the office by taking the opportunity to prepare for the tourism year. A study committee was formed to increase domestic tourism. According to the study of 127 countries, including 43 in Asia, conducted by the committee, it was seen that 116 countries have 5-day office hours in a week, while all 38 Asian countries, except Nepal, had 5-day office hours and 2-day weekends. But after the sudden impact of the covid epidemic on the traffic, the concept of the year of the tour fell into disrepair. 

The Covid pandemic has radically changed the way the world works. There is no need to go to the office for regular meetings and discussions. With the help of a virtual platform, the interaction that is done sitting in the same hall can be done from their homes or different workplaces. Considering the nature of the work, the practice of 'work from home' is being promoted in the western countries for some of these jobs that can be done without being present in the office. Even after such practices have started in some institutions of Nepal, withdrawing the practice started by the government sector within a month can be said to be a product of the narrow or traditional thinking of our society. 

Nepal's reverse journey 

In the global context, there is a debate going on to take the holiday to three or four days instead of two days a week. Taking a step forward from the practice started by Ford in 1926, in 1956 the then US Vice President Richard Nixon announced that in the near future, the office hours would be reduced from 5 days to 4 days to provide 'full family time to the American people'. In The Tribute (January 21, 2022), Adrienne Mammihan writes that the time will be a three-day weekend - 'Four days of work in a week! The 'new' program is gaining momentum not only in the UK but also globally, because it will not affect workers' pay.'' Leading think tanks like UK-based Autonomy and researchers from Cambridge, Oxford and Boston Colleges have launched the 'Four Day Week Global' and 'Four Day Week UK' campaigns, and gradually hundreds of organizations are showing interest in it. The idea that a shorter workweek can be a way to balance a weak economy seems to be gaining importance in recent days. Although Britain is the leader in giving this thought the form of a movement, other countries are also working on it. A 2021 research report shows that the short working week in the public sector implemented in Iceland from 2015 to 2019 resulted in a sharp increase in productivity and worker well-being. Scotland will implement this commitment as a trial of the welfare economy in 2022, and Spain some time ago, encouraging interested companies to embark on a multi-year pilot project in this regard. Japan suggests allowing workers to follow a four-day week, and the largest electronic company like Panasonic has already implemented this policy. 

As mentioned above, most countries are increasingly using virtual space for meetings, discussions and lectures. Employees are encouraged to take the work firm home option instead of attending the office for work that can be done through computers with the help of email and the Internet. But Nepal is trying to get used to the trend of buying digital attendance machines and keeping a copy of the attendance at the head office to further tighten the standards of attendance in the office. This arrangement is being implemented not only for those who have to stay in the office to serve the customers, but also for professors, researchers and fellows. Even if there is no educational activity in educational institutions and universities, this system developed by going to the office every day to get a salary and giving fingerprints to the digital attendance machine is a reverse journey in itself. 

Giving an example of an employee of a university, the professor there said - "Instead of calling him to the office, it would have been beneficial for the university to keep him at home." are Their office stay seems to be effective only in terms of putting pressure on facilities like electricity, water, toilets, etc., and not to streamline work and increase productivity. There is also the practice of walking after showing up in the morning, reaching the office to show up in the evening, and going to other work throughout the afternoon. 

Various studies have shown that shortening the workweek increases productivity within a company and organization as well as nationally. In countries with long weekends, holidays give workers time for rest and shopping. Gives opportunity to meet social, family and friends. In addition to fulfilling personal desires such as recreation, one gets energy to work without getting tired of regular work. It is said that well-rested workers are the best workers. In a 2019 Health and Safety Executive survey, 54 percent cited work pressure as the biggest reason for absenteeism. A 2019 study by Henley Business School found workers were happier, less stressed when they implemented 4 working days. Due to this, the sick leave rate decreased. As a result they became more production oriented.