Public holidays

Overview

Public holidays show on the roster so your rostering team can make informed decisions. Lookout provides state and territory public holidays. You can also add custom public holidays for regional or city holidays.

Lookout shows public holidays on the roster so your team can plan visits with confidence. You can choose one state for all Helpers, or use public holiday communities to assign holidays by each Helper's region. For regional or city holidays, you can add, edit, or delete custom public holidays. This guide covers each step.

Some key terms:

Glossary State public holidays: The public holidays Lookout provides for each Australian state and territory.

Public holiday community: A ready-made community that assigns state public holidays to Helpers based on the region on their profile.

Custom public holiday: A holiday you create for a region or city, such as a local show day. It applies to Helpers in the communities you link it to.

Before you start

To complete this process, make sure:

You have an access role that allows you to configure public holidays.
You are logged into Lookout on the web app.
The Communities you want to use for custom public holidays are already set up and active.

How to manage Public holiday settings

View the Public holiday settings

Click the three dots or ellipsis (...) next to your name.
Select Settings.
Under Rostering in Settings, click Public holidays.

Option 1: Choose how public holidays are assigned

Under Select an option, choose the option that suits your organisation.

All workers use the same public holiday state

Use this option if your workforce works in only one state or territory.

Select All workers use the same public holiday state.
Select your state or territory from the dropdown.
Click Save choice.

All Helpers and Members are now assigned the public holidays for that state.

Option 2: Workers use different public holiday states

Use this option if your Helpers work across different states and territories.
Lookout has created pre-made public holiday Communities for each state and territory in your account. These pre-made Communities are archived by default and can be unarchived to activate.

These Communities automatically add Helpers and Members based on their region, as specified on their Helper profile.

Select Workers use different public holiday states.
Click Save choice.

Top tip: To activate a State holiday set, you will need to individually configure the State or Territory you'd like to have the Public holiday set on.

In the table below, click the Community you want to activate, for example, Public holiday set: NSW.
A green banner will appear indicating it has been successful, and you will be navigated to Communities. Search for the Public holiday set you had activated to manage from there.
--> Visit our Managing communities as an Admin to learn more.
Each Community has a rule that adds Helpers based on the region on their profile.
To see the rule, navigate to the Community > Helpers > Click Edit helper rules.
Repeat for each state or territory you need.

Important: Leave the helper rules in place. They make sure the right Helpers are assigned the right state public holidays.

Please note: After you unarchive a community, it can take up to an hour for Helpers to be added. To refresh it straight away, click Edit helper rules, then click Save helper rules.

Build your Communities knowledge with our Communities article series.
Start with the overview, then learn how to manage Members, Helpers and Staffers within a community:

Review public holiday communities

When Workers use different public holiday states, the table below Save choice lists each state holiday set and the community linked to it. Use this table to check which states are active and which are not in use.

The table shows:

State holiday set: The state or territory, for example "New South Wales (Australia)".
Assigned community: The community linked to that state, with its status next to the name.

Each community shows one of these statuses:

(Active): The community is in use. Helpers in this community observe that state's public holidays.
(Archived and not in use): The community is archived. Its state's public holidays are not applied to any Helpers until you unarchive it.
If a state shows No community assigned, no community is linked to it, so no Helpers observe that state's public holidays through a community.
To open a community, click its name. The community page opens in a new tab, where you can see its Helpers, Edit helper rules or Unarchive this community.

Please note: If more than one community is linked to a state, only the first one shows at first. Expand the list to see the rest.

Top tip: Check this table after you unarchive a community to make sure its status has changed to (Active).

View workers not assigned a public holiday community

From the table displayed when selecting Workers use different public holiday states, This page lists Helpers whose public holiday communities need checking. Use it to find Helpers who are missing state public holidays, or who have more than one set.

Navigate to the workers not assigned to a public holiday community:

On the Public holidays page, make sure Workers use different public holiday states is selected.
Below the public holiday communities table, click View list of workers not assigned a public holiday community.

The Workers page has two tabs: No state holiday set, and Multiple state holiday sets.
The number on each tab shows how many Helpers it lists.

No state holiday set

Lists Helpers who are not in any active community that has a state public holiday set.
These Helpers do not observe any state public holidays.
If no Helpers are missing a set, the page shows "No workers missing state public holidays".

Multiple state holiday sets

Lists Helpers who are in more than one community that has a state public holiday set.
These Helpers observe the public holidays from every state they are assigned to.
If no Helpers have more than one set, the page shows "No workers with multiple state public holiday sets".
To open a Helper's profile, click their name in the Full name column.

Important: Each Helper should have only one state public holiday set. If a Helper has more than one, they may show public holidays on the roster that don't apply to them.

Please note: This page only lists active Helpers who belong to at least one active community. A Helper who is not in any active community does not appear here, even though they have no state public holidays.

How to manage Custom public holidays

Step 3: Add a custom public holiday

Some holidays only apply to a region or city, such as the Royal Queensland Show in Brisbane. Lookout does not include these, so you need to add them yourself.

On the Public holidays page, click Custom public holidays.
Click Add a custom public holiday.
Enter the Custom holiday name.
Select the Observed date.
Under Apply to communities, select one or more communities.
Click Save.

You should now see:

The message "Custom public holiday successfully created".
The holiday in the Upcoming tab, with its Observed date and Linked communities.

Important: Lookout cannot control the dates of custom public holidays, and it does not update them each year. Check the date before saving, and add the holiday again each year.

Please note: The observed date must be in the future, and you must select at least one Community. Only active Communities appear in the list.

Ph - Custom

Edit a custom public holiday

On the Custom public holidays page, find the holiday in the Upcoming tab.
Click the three dots ... to open the actions menu next to the holiday.
Select Edit custom public holiday.
Make your changes and click Save.

Please note: Past custom public holidays cannot be edited. You can only delete them.

Delete a custom public holiday

On the Custom public holidays page, select the Upcoming or Past tab.
Click the three dots ... to open the actions menu next to the holiday.
Select Delete custom public holiday.
Confirm the message "Delete [holiday name]? Workers and members in the linked communities will no longer observe it."

You should now see:

The message "Custom public holiday successfully deleted".
The holiday removed from the list.

Important: Deleting a custom public holiday removes it for every Helper and Member in the linked communities. This cannot be undone. To use the holiday again, add it as a new custom public holiday.

Top tip: Use the Past tab to remove last year's custom public holidays once you have added this year's dates.

What happens next?

After completing these steps:

Public holidays show on the roster for the Helpers and Members they apply to.
Helpers whose region matches an active public holiday community are added to it automatically.
Helpers in a community linked to a custom public holiday observe that holiday.
When you delete a custom public holiday, visits on that date are no longer treated as a public holiday for Helpers and Members in the linked communities.

What Staffers, Helpers and Members will see

For Staffers

Can see public holidays when rostering.
Can see which public holidays a Helper observes: go to the Helper's profile, click Settings, then click Public holidays in the sidebar.
Can see a community's linked holidays at the top of the community page, under This community is linked to.

For Helpers and Members

Have the public holidays for their state, plus any custom public holidays for communities they belong to.

Troubleshooting

I can't see the Public holidays settings

Check that your access role allows you to configure public holidays.

A Helper is not showing in a public holiday community

Check the region on the Helper's profile under Settings > Personal details, and make sure it is spelt correctly.
Check that the community has been unarchived.
To add the Helper yourself, open the community and click Manually add helpers.

I can't edit a custom public holiday

Custom public holidays that have already passed cannot be edited. Delete the holiday and add a new one with the correct details.

I can't save a custom public holiday

Check that the Observed date is in the future.
Check that you have selected at least one community.
If a community is missing from the list, check that it is not archived.

I deleted a custom public holiday but it still shows

Check for the message "Failed to delete custom public holiday". If it appears, try again. Contact support if the issue persists.

Why isn't the Melbourne Cup included as a public holiday?

Some Victorian councils observe a different holiday, such as a local show day, instead of the Melbourne Cup. Add it as a custom public holiday for the communities that observe it.

Do custom public holidays carry over to next year?

No. Add each custom public holiday again every year with the new date.

Can I see past custom public holidays?

Yes. Select the Past tab on the Custom public holidays page.

Still need help?
If you're still experiencing issues, please contact our Support Team and include:
Screenshots (if possible)
The user's name/email
The exact steps taken
Any error messages received