As necessary as it is for every human to work in order to ensure our survival, we still need sometime to rest and have a me-time. There are ways that ensures we get a break from work which are: Weekends and holidays. As constant as weekends might be, sometimes it is not enough to get things done. During the weekend which is usually used for cleaning and laundry in preparation for the coming week, after the whole organising of household activities is done all that is left is few hours to rest or probably watch movies and on Sundays depending on each individual religion. If you turn out to be a Christian and also a worker in the house of God, which means you will have to go to church early compared to everyone else and you might probably come back home late.
With that in mind, it is kind of obvious that we need more days to ourselves to do other things that matters in life, for example: hanging out with friends and families, going on vacations. These are needed activities that can improve the mental health of a human being and the only thing that can guarantee we have more free time to ourselves are holidays. There are different kind of holidays in a year, National, global, religious and work breaks. These holidays differs depending on the structure of a country, you might wonder why? There are some countries that do not share the multi religion perspective and even if they do, there is no equal share of holidays among religions that exist within the state. Either it is done on purpose or not the effect on religious entities and people remains the same.
As a result of Nigeria being a multi religious country which gives every religion is expected to have their own holidays, Since majority of this religious holidays are recognised nationally and globally it gives the citizens the privilege of enjoying holiday breaks even if you don't have anything to do with it. For instance being a Muslim doesn't mean you are not entitled to Christmas break and being a Christian doesn't mean you don't get Eid al-adha holiday. Adding these religious holidays to other notable national and global holidays like independence day, democracy day e.t.c with these, we definitely have a lot of holiday breaks on our hands but that is not the case for workers.
Based on my working experience so far I have discovered that organisations have found ways to manipulate holidays to their advantage most especially religious holidays. The only holidays that is considered a general Holiday {Holiday for everyone regardless of religion} is mostly those that has to do with national affairs such as Independence day, apart from that when religious holidays are announced by the federal government, Some companies make sure only employees that have something to do with the holidays are allowed to go on breaks. For example during Easter break, Since it is a Christian holiday only workers that are Christians will be allowed to go on holiday and during eid - al - filtr only Muslim's will be allowed to go on holiday.
Though a worker can choose to go against it and decide to be absent from work but there will surely be consequences which could lead to getting fired. Since a company has each employee data in their possession, they will be able to determine each employees religion and there are companies that doesn't grant religious holidays at all. As a result of this distinctive structure of companies has denied workers the privilege of enjoying more holidays despite it being granted by the federal government. In a country such as Nigeria, there is no job security for most workers especially in the private sector, which gives them the right to sack employees at will. Knowing how difficult it is to secure employment especially in this time of financial struggle, every worker will choose to obediently endure this unfair treatment.
I could chose any day of the week as the most suitable for breaks, especially Mondays, God knows I hate Mondays but that is just a petty feeling of mine. If I'm being realistic I believe the holidays we have are enough and apart from that, holidays are not just created, they represent a prestigious and notable event in the history of a country or a religion. Declaring any day of the week as an holiday without any significant purpose takes the fun out of it.
So instead of that, I would prefer if every holiday is considered a general Holiday in every organisation. Which means every worker gets to enjoy holiday breaks irrespective of their religion. With that in place, we would be able to enjoy as much holiday as possible, even if a worker has nothing to do with the holiday, you can either choose to celebrate it or do other things that matters. Afterall holidays are not restricted to a particular event, you can choose to do whatever you want with it.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "We need more holidays" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
All pictures are mine or else indicated otherwise