Commentary: Wouldn't it be nice to have more public holidays?
SINGAPORE: Wouldn't it be nice to have a whole calendar week of public holidays? When offices shut and one had no selection merely to take a break?
Recently, the South Korean government made an unprecedented move to declare a one-off public holiday on Oct 2 to span the gap between the weekend and a series of national holidays.
By doing so, the actress day added i more day of residual before National Foundation Day on October 3, which was followed by Chuseok on from Oct 4 to 6, and and so Hangeul Solar day on Oct 9. Together with the weekends, this move effectively created a ten-mean solar day public holiday in South Korea – a Golden Holiday.
President Moon Jae-in was said to accept done and then to offer S Koreans the chance to have a well-deserved break after a difficult year in a country famous for stressful, long working hours and a working culture where employees typically underuse the paid leave system.
He had also previously spoken nigh the importance of holiday and fourth dimension away from piece of work.
REST OR GO ON VACATION
Indeed, the idea that everyone, regardless of economic or social situation, should have the opportunity to residue or go on vacation, is not a new 1.
Rooted especially in ideas like attainable tourism, public holidays accept long been seen as a means to ensure mandatory time off piece of work. The assumption is that leisure time and vacations especially are considered to exist of import aspects of life, and are positively associated with well-being and good wellness.
Travel and time away from work is considered to be relaxing, enriching and in general tied in with the ability for one to refresh and recharge. Ensuring sufficient leisure time has too been idea to produce better citizens – ones that were more productive at piece of work after a vacation.
The cyclical process of going somewhere and then coming back refreshed and ready for more work often forms the footing of mod life and employment – inclusive of our prior lamenting that nosotros need a holiday.
However, since dissimilar types of jobs give varying levels of time off work and paid leave, public holidays have the additional benefit of ensuring time off is made available by law.
This is particularly critical in all sorts of situations from contract work where people are usually paid by the hr and do non accept time off, to white collared piece of work where workers may have access to a paid leave system simply feel socially pressured not to proceed exit by their colleagues and employers.
Indeed, article 24 of the United nations Declaration of Homo Rights states that "everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitations of working hours".
While the 10-twenty-four hours public holiday in South Korea is the country's longest break in more than 3 decades, stretches of mandatory holidays are non unheard of elsewhere.
Some countries such as Australia and the Usa provide a ii- to three-day public holiday on Christmas which occasionally leads to a combined four- to five-day break when it falls just before or after a weekend.
The Great britain government also sets what they term bank holidays on a few Mondays in the year to let for long weekend breaks.
Red china's Golden Weeks on Lunar New year's day and the Chinese National Day are mayhap the nigh well-known examples. In 2017, the Cathay National Tourism Assistants reported more than 700 million vacations taken past Chinese nationals in its National Day Golden Week (Oct ane to eight).
Retail and nutrient services spending in China during the Golden Week recorded a historic high of ane.5 trillion yuan (S$307 billion), while domestic tourism revenues amounted to some 584 billion yuan (Southward$119 billion).
SPEND OR REST?
It seems beyond lofty ideals of work-life balance and the importance of leisure are impressive statistics.
President Moon Jae-in was said to have hoped that the lengthened holiday in South korea would turbocharge consumption and provide a heave to the economy akin to Prc'south Golden Week or Premium Friday in Nippon.
In fact, i of the early proponents and adopters of shorter working hours and the five-day work week was Henry Ford.
Well-known industrialist and business magnate, Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, was said to have implemented such policies not so much because of labour rights or because of a conventionalities that productivity declines afterwards long working hours.
Instead, Ford believed that workers needed adequate leisure time to shop – and consume the products he was trying to sell.
Both the Gold Holiday in South Korea or the Golden Weeks in China are probably driven with the aspiration to brand people spend, rather than rest.
Would such long stretches of public holidays be something one should wish for and so?
BE Conscientious WHAT YOU WI SH FOR
Information technology's non like I would mind them, simply looking at Mainland china's example, ane should perhaps be conscientious what they wish for.
The overwhelming numbers of people who travel dorsum abode or elsewhere during the Gilded Weeks in China, take long been regarded to exist a problem of instituting such long breaks.
In 2017, the China Railway Corporation estimated more than than 110 1000000 passenger runway trips made during the National Day Gold Week period. 12.95 one thousand thousand rider trips were fabricated by plane during this same menstruation.
Such elevation travel numbers accept inevitably drove upwardly prices to travel during such periods, non dissimilar how airfares and tour packages are typically more expensive during the school holiday periods in Singapore.
China itself is beginning to consider whether Golden Weeks should be continued considering its disruptions to the country's regular economy.
Also, while the pop perception is that public holidays is for everyone, we should not neglect the fact that huge numbers of retail and service staff continue to work during public holidays – otherwise how tin 1 consume and spend the coin he or she is expected to exist spending?
Similarly, those working in the armed services, police force, civil defence and other essential services similar public transport and emergency healthcare are unlikely to be able to take long public holidays off work in the same style.
Finally, in example y'all are even so hoping for a long public vacation in Singapore - information technology has in fact happened before. Two years ago, when Singapore marked 50 years of independence, and then President Tony Tan declared Aug 7, 2022 a public vacation.
This made Aug 7 to 10, 2022 an extended 4-24-hour interval Jubilee Weekend.
Information technology was of course nice to have an extra-long weekend to join in the nation's festivities and gloat its achievements.
Just my lasting memory of the Jubilee Weekend was driving up to the Science Center thinking that I would visit Snow Metropolis with my kids since information technology was complimentary simply finding the entire centre surrounded past a queue snaking all the way circular its dorsum.
There were hundreds, if not thousands of people trying to arrive. Social media posts by the end of the day showed similar situations at most major tourist attractions in Singapore.
Then perhaps the paid-leave system that spreads out vacations and time off work is not then bad after all when one compares this to the Gilded Week – every bit long as employers allow usa to continue exit, and not have to take our piece of work along on holiday.
Sin Harng Luh is assistant professor at the National University of Singapore'south Section of Geography. Her research focuses on tourism and tourism'south practices within the boundaries of sustainable development and ethical consumerism.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/commentary-wouldnt-it-be-nice-have-more-public-holidays-213406
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