Spotify rolls out flexible public holidays program

Music-streaming giant Spotify launched a flexible public holidays program to better accommodate its diverse workforce.

About 3,500 Spotify employees of 90 nationalities in the United States and Sweden are no longer mandated to take off on public holidays; rather, they can pick and choose which days they want to work and take off.

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A Spotify Ltd. logo sits on display as employees work at desktop computers inside the music streaming company's offices in Berlin, Germany, on Friday, June 17, 2016. According to reports, Spotify has hired Paul Vogel, the former equity research analyst at Barclays Plc, indicating that the music streaming company may be planning making an initial public offering. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

“Our new policy is designed to give our employees the flexibility and freedom to celebrate the values and beliefs that they hold close to heart,” says Katarina Berg, Spotify’s chief human resources officer. “Everyone has the right to celebrate and feel included, regardless of who they are, what they believe, where they come from, and what country they happen to work in at the moment."

See also: Top employer offered holidays

Spotify is part of the 18% of companies that offer a “swap holidays” benefit to full-time employees, according to SHRM’s “Paid Leave Survey Findings. The survey polled 2,261 workers in October 2016.

This benefit is in addition to Spotify’s paid time off policy.

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