Spain Investment Immigration detailed Spain Immigration living guide: each province and city has its own holidays.
Any date printed in red on the calendar or monthly planner is a holiday in Spain, including national holidays such as National Day and Labor Day, as well as religious holidays, with the largest being Christmas and Easter. In addition to these, different provinces in Spain have provincial holidays, and different cities have municipal holidays.
Furthermore, Spanish law stipulates that all workers who sign contracts must be granted 30 days of paid vacation and 14 salary payments per year. This means that in addition to the holidays on the calendar, there are also 30 days of leave.
However, these holidays do not satisfy the vacation desires of the Spanish people. In addition to various statutory holidays, there is also a "bridge holiday." For example, if a day is New Year's Day, which is a national holiday, sometimes this day happens to fall on a Saturday, and the Spanish will simply take the following "day off" as well, allowing for a continuous four-day break. This "day off" is referred to as a "bridge holiday."
This so-called "bridge holiday" is not a statutory holiday and depends on the company. If the company does not grant the "bridge," employees must still work, but some employees may engage in work slowdowns as a form of protest. Over time, employers may have no choice but to grant the "bridge holiday" to allow employees to rest. A journalist counted the total number of holidays for the Spanish, and it amounts to about four months of vacation per year (including weekends).
People are often unproductive before and after holidays.
Spain also has a relatively common pre-holiday syndrome and post-holiday fatigue syndrome. Pre-holiday syndrome refers to the month leading up to a long holiday when everyone starts planning where to travel, comparing prices, and evaluating services. Statistics show that office workers spend at least three to four hours each day during the month before a holiday planning trips, and many gather to share experiences and provide information. Originally, the already low-efficiency Spanish, once afflicted with pre-holiday syndrome, see their work efficiency plummet.
Post-holiday fatigue syndrome, as the name suggests, affects many people who travel abroad during long holidays. The long flight times, combined with jet lag, leave many Spaniards feeling extremely fatigued upon returning to Spain. Many return from vacation feeling utterly exhausted, with their physical and mental energy severely impacted, and some even take sick leave to recuperate at home.
The new government aims to consolidate holidays.
No wonder the Spanish say: holidays bring joy to the Spanish, but they also bring many negative effects. Spain's neighbor, France, is also a country with many holidays, but the French have high work efficiency and diligence, which allows France's economy to be relatively stable. In contrast, Spain does not have the same high efficiency as the French. The Spanish have a saying: "Tomorrow," where many tasks that could be completed in a few minutes are often postponed with the phrase "let's talk about it tomorrow." For this reason, a Swedish advertisement subtly mocked the laziness of the Spanish. Although the advertisement was withdrawn after facing opposition from the Spanish, many Spaniards admitted that the Swedes were not lying and recognized their own shortcomings.
Many Northern Europeans believe that Spain is not a developed country, with average incomes ranking low in Europe, yet the Spanish government insists on setting regulations at the same standards as developed countries. For example, the one-month paid vacation system for workers is one such case, which has significantly impacted Spain's national economic output. A Spanish friend mentioned that when the global economy is in a good cycle, Spain appears to be doing well, but in reality, it cannot withstand economic shocks. The current economic crisis has battered Spain severely with just a few waves.
At the end of last year, Spain elected a new government, which is determined to encourage the public to work harder. They stated that to lead Spain out of its predicament and back onto the path of prosperity, some holidays must be modified and consolidated, including the cancellation of the "bridge holiday."