Bridging day
In the world of work , bridging days or window days are working days that lie between a public holiday and a (mostly) non-working day ( Saturday or Sunday ). In Austria , where the term bridging day is hardly used, the term Zwickeltag is widespread in addition to the term window day, especially in Upper Austria .
use
The bridging days are particularly important economically and sociologically . Many people use them to take time off from work. With a few vacation days or a corresponding time compensation , you can have several days off work in a row, i.e. bridge a so-called long weekend without a working day in between.
Typical bridging days are the days between Christmas and New Year , the Friday after Ascension , regionally the Friday after Corpus Christi and especially in the carnival strongholds the Friday after Women's Carnival . There are additional long bridging days in years in which a public holiday with a fixed date falls on a Tuesday or Thursday. Throughout Germany this applies to May 1st and October 3rd, in some German countries also to August 15th ( Assumption of Mary ), October 31st ( Reformation Day ) or November 1st ( All Saints' Day ).
Since bridging days, such as public holidays, are known long in advance, they are often included in operational planning. Many production companies shut down normal production and use these days for repair and maintenance work on the machines. In companies with complex production systems in particular, it is often not worthwhile to ramp up production for a bridge day, so they often automatically schedule the bridge days for some of their employees. On the other hand, those who have days off often use the bridge days to go shopping, so retailers are also increasingly trying to attract customers . The tourism industry also lures with many offers over these extended weekends .
The traffic flows are often different on such days. While it is quieter on routes that employees normally take to work (and students to their school), there is increased traffic on access roads on bridge days to shopping centers, but this usually in favor of lower traffic on the following Saturday.
In border regions in particular, it depends on whether the previous or following public holiday is also in neighboring countries or in member states, e.g. Swiss cantons, or not. The volume of traffic across the border is correspondingly high. Corresponding effects also occur if there is a public holiday in a neighboring country, but not in Germany, followed by or preceding a bridging day, for example in the case of a national holiday in a neighboring country (examples: on October 25 or October 27 in Austria, on October 31 July or August 2 in Switzerland or July 13 or 15 in France). In the opposite direction, on October 2 or 4, more and more traffic flows from Germany to neighboring countries. There is correspondingly more traffic on the public holiday itself, if it does not fall on a Sunday and is not also a public holiday in the neighboring country (e.g. May 1st is a working day in the Netherlands).
Export-oriented production companies have to adapt to whether it is national or international public holidays or window days. Accordingly, they have to set up their production accordingly in advance.
In terms of labor law, many companies use these days to reduce any overtime or vacation days for employees.
In some Länder, the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Land concerned has authorized schools to autonomously set certain days as non-teaching days, and has dispensed with setting bridging days as holidays nationwide. The days that can be determined autonomously are regarded as " flexible vacation days ". In the countries concerned, many (but not all) schools choose to designate long days as flexible holidays. In other countries, (some) long bridge days are national holidays .
Use of terms in other languages
The term bridging day is used in the same way in other countries, such as the Netherlands (brugdag) . In France, on the other hand, the verb form faire le pont ("to make the bridge") has established itself as the main use ; similar things are also common in other southern European countries, e.g. B. in Spain, Italy or Romania. In Korean, the name is 징검 다리 휴일 Jinggeom-dari Hyuil ~ stepping stone vacation day . As in the German-speaking area, there is often a term for the "long weekend" (e.g. Spanish fin de semana largo ).
The term "long weekend" or "long weekend" in other countries, the predominant term for a four-day weekend, about English long weekend . Overall, for the exact differentiation of the "long weekends" in secondary names, a distinction is made between three-day or four-day weekends (for example, three-day weekend and four-day weekend ). In Argentina, public holidays are usually pushed back to the respective Monday, and a “long weekend” always means a three-day weekend - there are no long weekends there.
Extended weekends are called “oval weekends” in Norway, in contrast to the normal “round weekends”. The days between public holidays and the normal weekend are the "pinched days" (inner- pinched days ) . In Sweden, the noun klämdagar (clamping days) developed here , which largely corresponds to the word formation of the window days.
In Hungary, the window day is declared a public holiday and the actual working day is postponed to a Saturday (before or after). This results in a six-day and a three-day working week with a four-day long weekend. Similar to z. In Austria, for example, many employees take leave of absence on this postponed “working Saturday”.
origin
The window day owes its name to the picture that is created when free days (Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays) are crossed out with a capital 'X' in the annual calendar. A day off between two such 'Xs' looks like the open window between rustic window sashes.
Individual evidence
- ↑ No to Zwickeltag ( Die Presse Online, May 17, 2009)
- ↑ Window Day of May 31, 2004, accessed on December 1, 2017.
