2019 Philippine Holiday Calendar and Asking Your VA to Work Over The Holidays

In our previous calendar posts we’ve talked about paid time off for your Filipino virtual assistants. This time, I’d like to talk about something else, working over the other holidays.

I know that the Philippines has more holidays compared to other countries. This discrepancy has made working over the holidays a thorny issue for those who outsource.

Believe it or not, a lot of virtual assistants do understand that there will be holidays when they would need to work. Asking your VA to do that doesn’t have to be a contentious process. There are things you can do make this a painless process.

1. Check out the Philippine Holiday Calendar

The best place to start is to know how many holidays there really are in the Philippines. They have regular and special holidays. Regular holidays are the ones that most Filipinos observe. The banks, schools and government offices are closed on those days. Special holidays are usually religious holidays and often optional. To help you guys out, here’s the holiday calendar for 2019.

Holiday Name	Date	Weekday
Holiday Name	Date	Weekday
New Year's Day	January 1	Tuesday
The Day of Valor / Araw ng Kagitingan	April 9	Tuesday
Maundy Thursday	April 18	Thursday
Good Friday	April 19	Friday
Labor Day	May 1	Wednesday
Independence Day	June 12	Wednesday
National Heroes Day	August 26	Monday
Bonifacio Day	November 30	Saturday
Christmas Day	December 25	Wednesday
Rizal Day	December 30	Monday

Holiday	Date	Weekday
Holiday	Date	Weekday
Chinese New Year	February 5	Tuesday
EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary	February 25	Monday
Black Saturday	April 20	Saturday
Ninoy Aquino Day	August 21	Wednesday
All Saints Day	November 1	Friday
Additional Non-Working Holidays	November 1	Friday
	December 24	Tuesday
Feast of the Immaculate Concepcion of Mary	December 8	Sunday
Last Day of the Year	December 31	Monday

2. Create your own calendar on what holidays they can have the day off and the holidays they need to work.

Now that you know what the Philippine holidays are, you also need to look at your own holiday calendar. Combine them into one calendar. On that calendar you mark:

• what holidays your VA absolutely needs to work
• what holidays are negotiable
• what holidays they can take the day off

We recommend that you do this every year. Laying this out ahead of time gives your virtual assistant the opportunity to plan their schedules. This will also allow you to budget for their holiday pay (if you want them to work over the holidays) early on.

3. Lay-out your policies on paid and unpaid time off

Now that it’s clear what holidays can take their days off, you need to set up policy on filing leaves and vacation days. What your virtual assistant need to do if they want to take a holiday or sick leave. Do they need to email you? Call you? Do you have a form that needs to be filled out? How many days in advance do they need to do this?

This system varies from business to business. You can use your experience as a guide or talk to your staff to figure out what your best work for you as a team.

4. Include the holiday schedule and paid time off policy in your onboarding process.

Presenting these leave policies early on not only is good employment practice, it helps avoid any misunderstanding that might arise once the holidays come up. When VAs know as soon as they’re hired,

• when they can start earning leave credits,
• what holidays they need to work,
• what paid holidays they have off,
• how much their holiday pay is,
• and how they can file leaves,

they can get to work right away. They (and you) don’t have to feel anxious when holidays come up. You have a system in place that you can use when needed. And with clear policies like this, outsourcing can be a less stressful experience.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Philippine Holiday Calendar. It will open your google calendar in a new tab, where you’ll be prompted with the image below. Just click add.

 

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About Julia Jasmine M. Sta Romana

Julia has been working for OnlineJobs.ph since 2012, first as a writer and now as its social media manager and content development specialist. She also founded the Davao Virtual Assistants Association, the biggest VA association in Davao City.

She’s a full-time wife and mom and volunteers her time as an internet rights advocate.

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