How european holidays affect outsourcing

As we debated in our previous article:

“Those who work or live around people from other cultures understand the importance of learning about the differences that surround them. What is often neglected, however, is the equal importance of knowing one’s own culture, values, and beliefs in order to relate more effectively across cultural lines.

Awareness of our own culture is important because it can keep us from projecting our values onto others. Projection, in this sense, means the tendency to think other people are doing something for the same reasons we would. This can happen when we are unaware of the values that drive us and unable to distinguish them from those held by other cultures.”

One important aspect of properly understanding one’s culture is the holiday calendar in various countries.

Taking this into consideration, we will not only guarantee a friendly, familiar environment in our outsourcing partnerships, but also find the balance to maximize work efficiency. Knowing the different holiday calendars, you will know when it`s a good time to start a software project.

In the following calendars we have chosen three eastern european countries and three western, so we can spot the differences and link the similarities in their national holidays schedule.

*This site was used for generating the above calendars.

The most visible dissimilarity commences between the catholic West and the ortodox East: This means different dates for celebrating Easter. Besides this, european holiday habits mostly coincide, and the number of free days due to national holidays is about the same.

Keep in mind the summer period (June, July, August), the most auspicious season for holidays all over the northern hemisphere. Not only for your employees and business partners, but also for their children, who will return to school in the beginning of autumn.
Work-life balance is a tricky concept, and never more so than during the school holidays.

Another similarity that we can deduct from the above calendars are the winter breaks surrounding Christmas and The New Year.

The way we see a healthy outsourcing partnership, you will need 2 months of continuous work to get the teams aligned. This is also our business model here, at 112Hub: 1 Day to answer your request, meet up with potential teams in no more than 1 Week and start your project in no more than 2 months from the day you selected your development team.

It is because of the holidays impact presented above and this workflow that we believe in why we recommend to start your outsourcing projects in the months of September and January.

To be competitive in attracting and retaining talent, look at industry and regional norms for holidays, paid and unpaid time off. Aim to give employees as much time as you can to create this attractive edge, always bearing in mind how much it will cost in terms of productivity.

With the correct approach, holidays may actually have a positive effect upon productivity over the long run, since they provide a needed rest and break from the tedium of business. As long as the company leadership manages the before and after holiday slump, having more holidays may actually increase productivity and morale.

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