In observance of Martin Luther King Day, one-third of employers (33 percent) will give all or most workers a paid holiday on Monday, January 16, according to BNA's most recent survey of holiday practices.
Although the 33 percent figure is up just slightly from last year (31 percent), it is the highest recorded since 1986, when Dr. King's birthday first became a national holiday. Trends spanning three decades show slow but steady increases in observance among employers. Just 14 percent of those surveyed made Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday in its inaugural year of 1986 and survey figures stayed in the teens for six years until a spike in 1993 (24 percent). Figures remained stable at the new level for the next 10 years (between 21 and 27 percent) before climbing to 30 percent for the first time in 2003. Reported figures have dropped below 29 percent just once since then.
Consistent with past years, non-business employers, such as non-profits and government entities, are far out front in observing Martin Luther King Day. More than half of those surveyed (55 percent) plan to give workers the day off with pay. This compares with about one in four employers in the services/non-manufacturing sector (27 percent) and just 6 percent of manufacturing firms. The practice of granting "floating holidays" to employees in lieu of companywide holidays tends to be more common among manufacturers and may help to explain the very low figures reported by employers in the sector.
The survey finds that larger organizations-those with 1,000 or more employees-are only marginally more likely to give workers paid time off on Martin Luther King Day than their smaller counterparts (33 percent versus 32 percent, respectively).
Sample: Survey data were collected from Oct. 3 through Nov. 2, 2006, using a Web-based questionnaire sent to human resources executives. A cross-section of 214 U.S. employers participated. Of these, 78 percent employ fewer than 1,000 workers, while 22 percent employ 1,000 or more. Twenty-four percent of those participating were manufacturing firms, 38 percent were services/non-manufacturing companies, and 38 percent were non-business entities, such as government employers, hospitals, educational institutions, and other non-profits. Non-union establishments make up 80 percent of the survey sample, while the remaining 20 percent employ at least some union-represented workers.
BNA is a leading publisher of print and electronic news and information for professionals in business and government. BNA produces more than 300 news and information services, including the highly respected Daily Labor Report, the Daily Report for Executives, and Bulletin to Management.
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