All ministries and government departments will be closed for 10 consecutive days from Friday.
These include December 16 and 17 marking National Day and the accession of His Majesty King Hamad to the throne.
Arafah Day, which falls on Tuesday, will also be a public holiday, followed by three days for Eid Al Adha.
Ministries and government departments will also be closed on December 23 in compensation for Friday, said a circular issued by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
GDN
Uh, okay, the whole country’s been off for the Summer, Ramadhan, Eid, a few other national holidays and now this, a whole 10 consecutive days off. Add to that a few more days for New Year and the Ashoora holidays coming up and we might as well close shop and stay at home.. or better still get a government job to stay at home.
What brilliance! So every business in Bahrain must pay their staff half a month’s salary with no return whatsoever. Isn’t it time to cancel this “compensation day” lark? Wouldn’t people just get tired of not working? If a holiday falls on a weekend, so what? That’s life. Just enjoy the time off and then go back to work on the first day of the work-week.
Well, on the bright side: Happy National Day, Eid Mubarak, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year and Happy 2008 too!
Comments
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I work in a company that is mainly americans and europeans etc…they are litterally chomping their teeth in frustration about this 10 days holiday….they just dont get this “holiday every other day” thing…they want to work darnnit and want Ministries etc to be open so they can get things done when it needs doing. Of course, some Ministries pretty much do about as much business while open as they do when closed…very sad.
Its not quite fair for you to generalize. Many of us work on a 24 hour clock and don’t get paid for the over time.. We do it out of sense of duty and responsiblity!!
Well, that’s parenting for you… much under appreciated and will continue to be so for as long as we walk the earth.
Come on guys lighten up on this whole business shmisness thing… I mean, next year it’s gonna be different. This series of holidays only repeats itself every 30 years or so as per the Hijri calendar so it’s not like an every year event. Let the people enjoy it.
Mahmood,
It is normal cost to a business just like any other cost. If a business properly budgeted for that then there would be few problems.
I need to catch up on my “Resident Evil 4”. Don’t you have some exotic tree to plant?
Come to our house, My dad will introduce you to his lovely Knar tree and you might take a branch or two. That’ll keep you busy.
ØÂاسدينالÙÂقير على موتت اليمعة 😕
translates to: whatever!
Bahraini businessmen don’t feel wealthy
enough in comparison to the rest of the
population. Jeez, salaries for most of
the workforce are low, tax is so low
compared to the rest of the world. Ditto
for many other costs.
Do the leisure industry people whine
when they only have 11 months of the
year in which to do business? Not those
who remember what the word “holy-day”
originally meant.
Now what’s the average income for
a Bahraini family again? Surely we
are big enough to let them enjoy a
few days leisure. Especially the
increasing number of Bahrainis who
have two jobs, not just one.
So this year the days are clustered
together. What’s the problem?
Wanna try setting up shop in Europe?
You are not paying people for not working over two weeks. A business pays somebody for a year, during which he/she works (for example) 42 weeks. But the pay for those 42 weeks is issued in 52 installments (or 12 equal monthly instalments). The employer has to budget for the real cost of employing somebody for 42 weeks, and if he needs a temp for the other weeks, then those ten weeks also have to be budgeted for.
Just a couple of hours ago, chatting up with a bunch of friends, how ridiculously monitored we are as far as holidays are concerned.
Living in NYC, working for Muslims, one does get to take off neither the Christian Holidays (u’re a muslim, bring ur behind to work) nor the Muslim’s (U’r in Amerika)
Darn it man, I miss my days in the Gulf (half day, double pay)
happy holidays
😡 😡 😡
Anyone starting a campaign to block Mahmood’s site?
My husband is taking a month off from December – January with some vacation time, and a lot of Christian / Muslim / Coptic/ Egyptian holidays built in all together. It has to be THE LONGEST vacation for him EVER! I-am-not-kidding-you. God help me!
No sheeyit, Mr. Galbraith 😉
But, hey, don’t consumers pay for everything
in the final analysis?
Besides, when you set up business here,
know the territory, eh? Calendars exist,
and as your local competitors labour
under the same constraints, I’m sure
you’ll be ok. Still unhappy? Comfort yourself
with the thought of all the unpaid overtime
that people in this part of the world do,
the low taxation, the lack of unions and
other forms of employee protection, etc,
etc, ad nauseam.
Oh, and the low salaries.
Like I said: wanna start up in Europe?
Oh come on guys. No one is objecting to deserving holidays, but do we – particularly in Bahrain – need to add to the already considerable number of days off (not just unproductive days like Ramadhan etc)?
Why do we have to have a day off on Dec 17th? We never celebrated it before, this is a new thing.
Why do we have to have a day off for Arafah Day? We never celebrated it before, this is a new thing.
And all this rubbish about “compensation” of holidays falling on holidays? WTF? Where on Earth did this come from other than using this as yet another cheep political tool to buy people off?
If we are to be a “modern” country that is judged by its efficiency and the various other metrics, we should most certainly look into these numerous holidays and regularise them somewhat.
Why don’t we just make/move this holidays to fall on Sundays so we can enjoy a long-weekend once in a while rather than having them slap-bang in the middle of a work week destroying the rhythm of working? Yes, I know some religious holidays won’t and can’t be moved, but there are plenty others that could at least be considered.
I hate this, I really do, and if your job involves dealing with other GCC countries at this time of the year, then you are screwed, yesterday I had a long phone call with a Devision manager in a very Large company in KSA, I was trying to explain to the guy that i need to finish a certain deal thats been pending for ages on there side before the 10 day hell and before the Haj season in KSA, guess what, He was like “I will not do it, I cant do it, half my staff are in Haj already and the other Half are working on Haj related issues, you don’t have the priority on GOD now do you!!!!”
on the other Hand, I’m making use of this long holiday, tomorrow i will be Having some nice waffles in Brussels, see you all on the 5th.
Look, everywhere I go in Bahrain I see
management not knowing how to make
employee time much more productive than
it is. Why whine about the holidays when
so many of us could improve how working
days are spent? This is a far more pressing
issue, honestly.
Very good idea. For everyone.
If you find that pill, please pass me some too. But until then, how are my staff to better utilise their days if there is no one on the other side of the phone?
And what am I supposed to do with jobs that have deadlines? Just add another 10 days to the job at hand? Try explaining that to your not-in-Bahrain customers!
“10 day? No way! You lucky bastards. I still need my job before Dec 24th though.”
Is Arafat day a public or Government only holiday as we have been issued with a memo requiring us to work on Tuesday.
Also when will the GDN start becoming a responsible newspaper and checking what it prints instead of just prining it. It is high time someone sues them for disrupting their business.
sure, a holiday is great, but im really not with this whole long holiday thing every now and then.
were not at a stage of our lives where we can stop for 10 days; we need more production, more work, more output, more teaching, more of everything, and cutting people slack and telling them to take a chill pill just doesnt move this country forward.
again, the lazy arab stereotype continues. i go to work, stay late, and dont expect any overtime. i want to be productive; i wish the rest of the country was. i swear, japan wouldnt have anything on us if we were.
but were not.
and that explains why were here.
doing nothing.
banks have to work on tuesday; i mean, it would be ridiculous otherwise; imagine all financial transactions stopping for 10 days.
so yes, ill be back in the office on tuesday. i dont mind at all. i know the rest of bahrain is off and that sort of ticks me off, knowing everyone is just being spoonfed the laziness bug. and then we wonder why we cant produce much
Pretty sad when the nation’s armed forces pack it in for 10 days off in a row. 🙄 If ever there was a more opportune time to invade this little island it would be early Monday morning. 💡 ❗
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* I love working for the government*
no but really I think the whole compensate fridays and saturdays if they fall in other official holidays is ridiculous
I although like the suggestion that when this compensation situation happens, rather than giving us sunday and monday off, add the days into your annual leave and use them somewhere else
Bahrainiac, the armed forces are always on emergency during official holidays 😉
Mahmood,
In case you get the wrong idea, I’m just having
the 23rd off and I’ll be working the rest of
the time. I too want to get stuff done.
Mind you, if you’ve got deals with international
customers (lucky you) you’re obviously making
huge wads of cash and getting richer with
each passing nano-second 😉 so you
can probably lure some of your people back
to work with some overtime pay or TOIL.
Nah, it’s because they love me that they are willing to pay me for the privilege of being in the vicinity of my aura!
As to that thing with wads and stuff, nope, not yet but working on it 🙂
A “connected” friend I visited this evening suggests that this is indeed what is going to be adopted by the government in 2008.
Let’s hope you both are right.
Mahmood! I think I’d like to move to your country… will you sponsor me? 😎
Actually, even when my husband is “on vacation” he is really not – always taking phone calls, and doing work for the others around the world not on holiday. So Mahmood, you are not the only one.
So who benefits from these long holidays then, may I ask? As a small business owner, regardless of the time of day, night and whether it is a holiday, I am doing some work, I suspect like most if not all small and medium business owners the world over. That’s just how we’re built.
Who benefits? Isn’t it high time for us to rethink all of these useless official holidays?
Well I’m only taking the 23rd off, so
I can empathize with you Mahmood. I like
to finish things too. But it’s good to
have the choice.
How mean spirited of you all. A 10 day holiday at this time of year means the Christian expats can start their Christmas hols early.
That’s assuming, of course, that sufficient warning was given so flights back to the homeland could be booked well in advance 😯
Hey Mahmood……..it seems that some of the people posting their comments on this subject might feel that you, as a Bahraini entrepeneur, are not entirely impartial or un-biased on the matter of extended work vacations.
Whilst I’m not against the idea of allowing your pions a little quality time with their friends and families to enjoy Bahrain’s public gardens and recreational spaces, I must agree with you entirely on this one.
Having previously “worked” in a Bahraini Civil Service position for 8 years, I know that changes need to be made on this serious work-ethic issue of government ministries shutting up shop at every opportunity. The situation seems to have deteriorated gravely since I relocated to China in 2001.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you might soon be obliged to close your small business for the Lunar New Year, Diwali, Tomb Sweeping Day, Halloween, Dragon Boat Festival and Pancake Day…….good on you for raising your objections.
.
We’ll just have to make up for the lost time with productive, quality time spent when we do come back to work…….Ok, ok, ok, stop it now
hey I believe these holidays are a welcome break for most of us who unlike Mahmood get a yearly summer break ! so please think about the rest of the workforce including all those greedy contractors/builders who have been juicing their staff to get work done in the nick of time all summer, besides I don’t believe businesses are running into a loss looking at the current scene most businesses have stuck up to low salaries while rents have gone up etc etc. More like the other way round !
Ha, ha. Tomb Sweeping Day. Love it. Sounds valid to me. 😆
how cunning this business man is…