Siirtopäivät

Siirtopäivät is the Finnish term for days designated as in lieu or moved rest days, used to observe holidays or to balance working and rest schedules. The idea behind siirtopäivät is to provide a compensatory day off when the official holiday would otherwise create scheduling challenges, such as a holiday falling on a weekend, or to ensure a consistent distribution of break periods within a workplace or school.

The use and rules of siirtopäivät vary by sector, collective agreement, and institution. They are commonly applied in public administration, private sector workplaces, and educational calendars, where calendars are published in advance to show which days are considered siirtopäivät. In practice, if a major holiday falls on a weekend, a compensatory day off may be granted on a nearby weekday; alternatively, the institution may rearrange the schedule so that a designated siirtopäivä replaces the original holiday in terms of time off.

Implementation depends on policy rather than a single nationwide rule, so agreements between employers and employees, or between schools and staff, determine when siirtopäivät are allowed, how they are approved, and how they affect pay and attendance. The concept helps maintain staffing stability while still honoring official holidays and providing predictable rest periods for workers and students.

Overall, siirtopäivät function as a practical mechanism to manage holiday observance and calendar continuity within Finnish work and education systems.