Skip to main content
The Public Holidays feature in absentify allows you to manage and customize holiday sets for your team, ensuring accurate absence calculations and tailored configurations for employees in different regions or countries.

​
Adding a public holiday set

To create a new public holiday set:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Public holidays and click + Add public holiday.
  2. Fill in the required details:
    • Name: Enter a descriptive name for the holiday set (e.g., “Baden-Württemberg”).
    • Country: Select the country from the dropdown menu.
    • Region: Choose a specific region or subdivision if required.
  3. Click Save to create the holiday set.
    The system will automatically populate public holidays for the selected country or region.
You can edit, delete, or add new entries to fully customize the holiday set based on your organization’s needs.

​
Editing public holidays

You can customize an existing holiday set that was manually created by:
  1. Clicking the pencil icon next to the holiday set on the Public holidays page.
  2. Making changes such as:
    • Adding holidays: Use the + Add date option to create new holidays. Specify the name, date, and duration (full day, first half, or second half).
    • Editing holidays: Click an entry to change its name, date, or add translations for multilingual users.
    • Deleting holidays: Remove unnecessary holidays by clicking the trash icon next to the entry.
Translations ensure that holidays appear in the correct language for users with different language settings. Note: Adding translations and edits is only available for custom public holiday entries. Predefined holiday sets generated by absentify cannot be edited but can only be deleted entirely.

​
Adding translations

You can add or edit translations for holiday names:
  1. Select a holiday from the list and click to open the Edit holiday dialog.
  2. Choose the Language from the dropdown menu.
  3. Enter the translated holiday name and click Save.
This feature is only available for custom public holiday entries, not predefined sets.

​
Assigning holidays to users

To assign a holiday set to specific employees:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Users and click the pencil icon next to the user you want to edit.
  2. In the Public holidays dropdown menu, select the appropriate holiday set(s).
  3. Click Save to apply the changes.
Assigning region-specific holiday sets ensures accurate absence calculations for employees in different locations. You can assign holiday calendars in bulk using our API Update a member.

​
Deleting a public holiday set

To delete a holiday set:
  1. Go to Settings > Public holidays and click the trash icon next to the holiday set.
  2. Confirm the deletion.
Deleting a holiday set removes it from all associated users. Existing absences that included these holidays will remain unaffected in the absence history but will not factor into future calculations. Ensure the set is no longer in use before deleting.

​
Outlook calendar synchronization for public holidays

Public holiday entries are automatically synchronized with employees’ Outlook calendars starting from the Essentials Plan (Essentials and Plus Plan).
  • The synchronization process may take some time as all employees in the workspace are updated.
  • Microsoft imposes limits on the number of calendar entries that can be created per tenant.

​
Enabling Outlook calendar synchronization

To enable synchronization of public holidays with Outlook calendars:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Microsoft.
  2. Ensure that the Outlook calendar synchronization permission is enabled.
  3. Confirm that public holidays are assigned to employees correctly.
If a holiday set is updated, the changes will be reflected in employees’ Outlook calendars automatically. You can review and verify public holiday sync activity in the Microsoft sync logs, including the synced date, holiday name, and confirmation status.

​
Handling dynamic or updated public holidays

Some countries apply flexible rules for public holidays, such as moving holidays to a nearby weekday if they fall on a weekend, or introducing new holidays by government decision. If public holiday dates have been edited or updated, you can click Sync with API to refresh the calendar. This ensures that your public holiday calendar always reflects the most accurate and up-to-date dates provided by the official data source.

​
Best practices for managing public holidays

  • Regional accuracy: Assign correct holiday sets to employees based on their location to avoid calculation errors.
  • Custom holidays: Add company-specific holidays, such as additional paid leave, to reflect unique organizational policies.
  • Regular reviews: absentify updates predefined public holidays on a monthly basis. If public holidays change or adjustments are required, click Sync with API to refresh the data and ensure accuracy.
  • Timing matters: Only add holiday calendars for the upcoming year at the end of the current year to ensure new government-announced holidays are included.
Public holidays are automatically updated to reflect new calendar years. You can manually add or adjust entries if needed for organizational purposes.