Add an Office Closure

This feature is included in the Core, Pro, and Elite packages.

I need to add dates when our office is closed. How can I add mandatory days off for employees?

Purpose: This guide will show you how to add an office closure to your BambooHR account. It will explain the process of creating a company holiday, filling out date details, and determining whether there is pay associated with the closure.

Table of Contents

Setting up an office closure is as easy as 1, 2, 3! Follow the directions below to set it and forget it.

Keep in mind, only Full Admins and custom access level users (with access granted to Holidays via Settings) will be able to create an office closure.

Summary

You can add office closures in BambooHR to record mandatory company days off, such as holidays or shutdown periods. This guide explains how to set up an office closure, configure pay settings, and control visibility for employees.

Who this is for

This feature is available to Full Admins, Account Owners, and custom access level users who have been granted access to Settings > Holidays. It applies to all BambooHR® account packages.

Steps

Add an Office Closure

The BambooHR Settings page is open, displaying the Holidays section. The left sidebar menu includes options such as Account, Access Levels, Employee Fields, Approvals, Apps, Ask BambooHR, Benefits, Company Directory, Compensation, Custom Fields & Tables, Email Alerts, Employee Community, Employee Satisfaction, Employee Wellbeing, Global Employment, Hiring, and Holidays. The Holidays option at the bottom of the sidebar is highlighted in green.At the top of the main panel, the heading “Holidays” appears with a dropdown labeled “All Countries” and navigation arrows for changing the year, currently showing 2026. To the right, a green Add Holiday button is highlighted with an orange box and arrow labeled step 2.A pop-up window titled Add Holiday is open in the center of the screen. The text inside reads: “Just a quick heads up for you. Do you want to add a single holiday or multiple?” Below this text are two selectable options: Single Holiday (on the left, highlighted with a green border and labeled step 3) and Add by Country (on the right). A green Next button is visible in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up, and a Cancel link is next to it.An orange arrow connects the Add Holiday button to the Add Holiday pop-up. A black number icon labeled “1” points to the gear icon in the top right of the page, and the “Ask” button is visible next to it. The holiday list below includes sample entries such as Boxing Day, Christmas, and Easter Monday, with associated dates, countries, and pay rates.

To add an office closure to your BambooHR account, you will use the Holidays feature.

  1. Navigate to Settings > Holidays.
  2. Click Add Holiday.
  3. Select Single Holiday.

Add Holiday Settings

The BambooHR “Add a Holiday” page is displayed. The form includes several labeled fields and highlighted instructional callouts numbered 1 through 7.The Holiday Name field at the top is filled with “Winter Office Closure.”The From and To date fields show “12/22/2025” to “01/03/2026,” with an orange callout labeled “More than one day?” pointing to the To date field.Below the dates, Country Tags are visible, listing “United States,” “United Kingdom,” and “Canada.”The section titled Who is this holiday for? shows that it’s assigned to 19 employees, with “All Employees” selected. An orange callout points to an “Exclude Employees” button and a dropdown list on the right with options such as Department, Division, Location, Employment Status, Job Title, Specific People, and All Employees.The Hide This Holiday option is displayed with a checkbox labeled “Only show this holiday in Who’s Out to the people it’s assigned to.”The Holiday Pay section includes a checkbox labeled “Add holiday hours or set a special pay rate multiplier for this holiday?” It’s checked, and below it, there’s an input for “8 hours per day for All Employees.” Another unchecked option allows setting a pay rate multiplier for hours worked on the holiday.At the bottom of the page, there is a large green Save button with a smaller blue Cancel link next to it.The form sections are annotated with orange arrows and boxes corresponding to the instructional numbers. The layout shows the full workflow for defining an office closure in BambooHR, including name, date range, countries, employee groups, visibility, and pay rules.

Determine your office closure settings:

  1. Holiday Name: Determine the name you'd like your employees to see for this closure.
  2. Date: Choose your closure dates. If the office is closed for more than one day, clickMore than one day?
  3. Country Tags: Add country tags to make it easy to find and filter your holidays.
  4. Who is this holiday for: Determine who the closure affects. Click Edit to filter by Department, Division, Employment Status, Job Title, or Location.
  5. Hide This Holiday: Check this box if you only want the holiday to be visible to those who are included in the "Who is this holiday for?" selection. Otherwise, the closure will show on all employee's Who's Out widget, the Company Holidays widget, and the Who's Out Calendar.
  6. Holiday Pay: If your employees should be paid without working during this closure, check the box to determine the number of hours they should be paid for. Alternatively, you can determine a multiplied rate of pay for those who work during the closure (1x, 1.5x, etc.)
  7. Save: Don't forget to save your work!

What does this look like for employees?

Your employees will see the office closure in a few different places.

The BambooHR Time Off tab is open. The navigation bar at the top includes tabs labeled Personal, Job, Performance, Time Off (highlighted), Emergency, Documents, Timesheet, and More.Below the title Time Off, there is a white card displaying 108 Hours in bold green text, labeled “Vacation Available,” with the subtext “TO – Hours Worked.” Below this section are four round icon buttons for related time off actions, including viewing history, adjusting balances, adding time off, and settings.Below this, a section outlined in orange is labeled Upcoming Time Off. Inside, there is an entry showing a green gift icon next to May 12 with the text Office Closure below it.This section indicates that employees assigned to an office closure will see this upcoming event appear on their Time Off tab when the company closure date is within two months. The note also implies that employees only see this section if they have access to at least one time off category, which makes the Time Off tab visible.

1. Upcoming Time Off: Employees assigned to the office closure will see the event under this heading on their Time Off tab when the company closure is within two months. Please note: the employee will only see this section if you have granted access to at least one time off category, which would make the Time Off tab visible to the employee.

The image shows two versions of the BambooHR Who’s Out widget side by side.On the left, the regular-size Who’s Out widget displays a small white box titled Who’s Out with two sections:Today — the text reads “Nobody requested time off for today.”Tomorrow — a green gift icon appears next to the words Office Closure, followed by “Nobody requested time off for tomorrow.”At the bottom of the box is a Full Calendar link. The widget is outlined in orange, indicating this is the compact version shown on the employee dashboard.On the right, the expanded version of the Who’s Out widget fills most of the screen. It lists multiple upcoming dates in green, including “Today,” “Tomorrow,” and specific days such as Saturday, Mar 15 through Tuesday, Mar 18. Under Wednesday, Mar 19, there is also a green gift icon next to the text Office Closure, followed by “Nobody requested time off for Wednesday, Mar 19.” Below that, headings read The rest of March and April 2025, each with the note that nobody requested time off. A Full Calendar link appears again at the bottom.An orange outline and arrows highlight that the expanded widget provides a longer range of visibility. The smaller version shows the upcoming closure only if it’s within two days, while the expanded view shows closures up to seven days away. The regular widget expands when the user clicks anywhere inside it. The note warns that office closures do not appear under “The rest of [month]” or future months in the expanded view. Additionally, if the office closure is not hidden (the “Hide This Holiday” box is unchecked), the closure will appear to all employees, even if it only applies to a specific group.

2. Who's Out Widget: The employee will see the upcoming closure if it is within two days on the regular-size Who's Out widget (left). They will see the upcoming closure if it is within seven days on the expanded Who's Out widget. The regular widget will expand if the employee clicks anywhere within the widget. Be aware! The upcoming closure will not show under "The rest of [month]" or other upcoming months in the expanded widget.

If your office closure only affects a specific group of employees, the Who's Out widget will still show the office closure for all employees if you've left the "Hide This Holiday" box unchecked.

The image shows the Who’s Out Calendar in BambooHR, displaying a two-week view from March 9–22, 2025. The top-left corner has the BambooHR logo. Below the date range, a dropdown labeled All Employees is visible next to three calendar view buttons: Week, 2 Weeks (highlighted in green), and Month.On the right side of the header, there is a settings gear icon outlined in orange. When clicked, it opens a dropdown menu titled Show on Calendar, with several checkboxes:Holidays (checked and circled in orange)Birthdays (checked)Anniversaries (checked)Weekends (checked)A blue link labeled iCal Feeds… appears at the bottom of this menu.Below, a calendar grid shows days from Sunday, March 9 through Saturday, March 22. In the week of March 16–22, an entry appears on Wednesday, March 19 with a small gray gift icon and the text Office Closure. This event is visible because the Holidays checkbox is selected in the settings menu.An orange outline highlights the right-hand settings menu and indicates its connection to the visibility of holidays on the calendar. The description explains that the employee’s view of upcoming office closures depends on their selected time range (Week, 2 Weeks, or Month) and that the Holidays option must be checked in the settings gear for closures to appear.The Who’s Out Calendar is accessed by clicking the Full Calendar link from the Who’s Out widget. If the office closure applies only to a specific group but the “Hide This Holiday” box was left unchecked, the closure will still display for all employees.

3. Who's Out Calendar: When the employee will see the upcoming closure on their Who's Out Calendar depends on the calendar view they have selected (Week, 2 Weeks, Month). They also must have the Holidays box checked by clicking the settings gear. This calendar is accessed by clicking the "Full Calendar" link on the Who's Out widget.

If your office closure only affects a specific group of employees, the Who's Out Calendar will still show the office closure for all employees if you've left the "Hide This Holiday" box unchecked.

The image shows the Request Time Off page in BambooHR. At the top left, a back arrow labeled “Back” is visible, followed by the large green heading Request Time Off.Below the heading, the From and To date fields are filled with 03/17/2025 and 03/21/2025. The Time Off Category dropdown is set to Vacation.Under Amount, there is a list of individual days with editable hour fields:Mon, Mar 17 — 8 hoursTue, Mar 18 — 8 hoursWed, Mar 19 — 0 hours, followed by a green gift icon and the text Office ClosureThu, Mar 20 — 8 hoursFri, Mar 21 — 8 hoursA summary line below shows Total: 32.00 hours.Below the hours, a Note field is available for comments. At the bottom of the form are two buttons: a large green Send Request button on the left and a blue Cancel link on the right.On the right-hand side of the screen, a sidebar labeled Balance as of 03/17/2025 lists available leave types and hours:Birthday Leave — 8 hours availableSick Leave — 64 hours availableVacation — 12.1 hours availableAt the bottom of the sidebar is a small section with a mobile phone icon and text reading Request time off from your phone – Get BambooHR for iPhone or Android.The highlighted section indicates that when an employee requests time off for a date range that includes an office closure, the closure date (in this example, March 19) automatically appears with 0 hours entered. This reflects the closure as defined in the Holiday settings.

4. Request Time Off: The employee will see the upcoming closure if they submit a time off request that spans over the selected date(s) of the closure. The hours will automatically be set to "0" since the closure was created in Holiday settings.