Holiday calendar
A holiday calendar is the published list of dates an organisation treats as non-working for a given period. The calendar is the single reference that leave, attendance, capacity planning and cover all read from. One authoritative copy matters more than the individual dates.
A calendar's value is in being the only copy anybody consults. Two lists of holidays in one company will disagree by the second year. Both will be quoted confidently.
Timing matters nearly as much. A calendar issued in January is too late for anyone who booked flights in October. It costs far more in goodwill than it saves in administration. Publish early. Even a partial list beats none.
Some dates move, and some are confirmed only weeks ahead, which is entirely normal and not a sign that anybody has done their job badly. The calendar copes by being amendable, and by marking which entries are still provisional. Say so on the entry.
Each entry needs a name, a date and a note. Closed, thin cover, or open as usual are three different instructions. The date alone gives none of them. Write the note when you add the entry. Nobody will recall the intent eleven months later.
Keep one owner and one copy. A calendar two people edit is a calendar that will disagree with itself.
Where this shows up in PeopleMuster
PeopleMuster's capacity view draws holidays onto the planning grid beside leave. A planner sees the closed day in place, rather than having to check a separate list.
Questions people ask
When should next year's holiday calendar be published?
As early as the dates are known, because people plan travel months ahead. Publish confirmed dates and mark the provisional ones rather than waiting for certainty.
Who owns the holiday calendar?
Usually HR or operations, and it needs one named owner. A shared calendar with no owner is the one that ends up with two versions.
Can a holiday calendar have optional days?
Many do, where a date is observed by some of the team and not others. Mark those explicitly, or cover on the day becomes a guess.