<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655498110658,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed7d-d9d9-a9ec-ff7daffb0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655498110658,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed7d-d9d9-a9ec-ff7daffb0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55478964", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1032720"} }); ","_id":"00000181-7360-db25-adf7-7b7b70760000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedIt’s been a year since Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday, and a growing number of companies are recognizing it.
Some 30% of employers are expected to offer Juneteenth off this year, according to preliminary data from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. The number represents significant growth as the holiday becomes better known and established.
All federal employees have Monday off after President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, a bill declaring June 19 a federal holiday that marks the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States, although private employers are also taking note and quickly following suit.
In 2020, when the country was roiled by protests and riots following the murder of George Floyd, companies began examining Juneteenth more seriously. That year, some 8% of employers gave workers the day off, according to data from the IFEBP. Of the employers who offered Juneteenth as a holiday in 2020, the overwhelming majority (96%) did so for the first time that year.
Last year, private companies didn’t have much time to prepare or decide whether to give employees Juneteenth off because Biden signed the legislation June 17, just two days before the holiday is celebrated.
WALMART FORCED TO PULL JUNETEENTH ICE CREAM FLAVOR FOLLOWING CRITICISM
Juneteenth commemorates Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger enforcing President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. That came in 1865, more than two years after Lincoln issued the proclamation. Texas was the first state to declare Juneteenth a holiday, in 1980, and other states later followed suit.
Barb Holland, human resources knowledge adviser for the Society for Human Resource Management, told the Washington Examiner she thinks that based on the trajectory of companies marking Juneteenth over the past few years, the trend will likely continue with more businesses giving employees time off.
It’s not just private businesses that are falling in line with the federal guidance. New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced in April that city employees would get a paid day off and that doing so was “long overdue.”
James Bailey, professor of leadership at the George Washington University School of Business, said he expects more companies to allow employees time off as Juneteenth grows in the country’s cultural psyche and becomes more established as a holiday.
Unlike the government, private corporations are not compelled to give employees time off on federal holidays. Tight labor markets, with employers struggling to recruit and retain employees, make adding Juneteenth as a holiday a more attractive option.
Many companies are wary to return to purely in-office work because many potential recruits prefer remote or hybrid opportunities. The same logic can translate to decisions about how many and what specific holidays they allow time off for.
For example, one company might look more attractive to an employee if, all things equal, it gives employees Juneteenth off and its competitors don’t.
There is also the question of perception, especially for companies that brand themselves as “progressive.”
Some businesses might decide to give employees time off in order to avoid negative perceptions, particularly in the current climate in which social media campaigns advocating for boycotts of companies for various reasons have become commonplace.
For some companies, denying their employees a Juneteenth holiday could look like a “callous dismissal” of the date, according to Bailey.
But taking time off isn’t all businesses are doing to mark the historic day. Holland said that outside of just offering employees the day off, certain companies are going even further and trying to teach their workers about the history and significance of Juneteenth.
“Some employers are leveraging the holiday to educate and raise awareness about racial barriers that continue to exist today. Some are hosting presentations, creating podcasts, and educating staff on the history behind Juneteenth,” she said.
Bailey emphasized that many of the corporations giving employees Monday off aren’t necessarily doing so because they believe it’s the right thing to do but rather because they are looking at all the factors at play, including public perception and employee satisfaction.
“We tend to think that this stuff comes out of the moral largess of firms, and it really doesn’t — they ran all of the numbers,” he said of the decision-making process.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
On Friday, Biden issued a proclamation to mark the one-year-old federal holiday. He said the date is an opportunity to celebrate human freedom and reflect on the injustices of the past.
“Juneteenth is a day to reflect on both bondage and freedom — a day of both pain and purpose. It is, in equal measure, a remembrance of both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, as well as a celebration of the promise of a brighter morning to come,” Biden said.
