Faire le pont

Introduction

In America, we are used to bank holidays taking place on a weekday: for example Memorial Day always takes place on "the last Monday in May". There are exceptions such as July 4th, but for the most part our holidays are designed to fall during the week. And even when July 4th falls on a weekend, the nearest weekday becomes a bank holiday. The system is designed so that American bank holidays always have long weekends.

In France it's the opposite: most holidays are tied to a specific date, for example July 14th, with the exception of certain historically Catholic holidays such as Easter Monday. And if the date happens to fall on a weekend, too bad for you! There's no "make-up" 3-day weekend if Bastille Day happens to be a Saturday (although nobody here calls it "Bastille Day"...but that's a topic for another day).

May in Paris

Yes I know...the famous song is really April in Paris. But it turns out that the month of May is full of bank holidays here:

• 1-May: International Workers Day (the actual Marxist one, as opposed to America's Labor Day in September)

• 8-May: V-E Day ("Victory in Europe Day" commemorating the end of WW2 in Europe)

• 29-May: Ascension

In other words, 3 weeks out of 4 are already truncated!

Faire le Pont

Which brings us to the French custom « faire le pont », literally "to make a bridge". If a bank holiday takes place on a Tuesday or Thursday, many people will use vacation days the corresponding Monday or Friday to make a "bridge" with the weekend. 

For example in 2025, May 1st and May 8th are both Thursdays, so it would be rational to use vacation days on Friday, May 2nd and Friday, May 9th in order to get consecutive 4-day weekends:

A next-level move would be to take off between Easter Monday and Labor day, using 8 vacation days to get a break of 14 days:

More importantly, this custom might encouraged, if not outright mandated, by HR. The logic being, if all of your suppliers and customers are absent, it doesn't make sense to force employees to come into work and twiddle their thumbs all day. In cases where this is actually mandated, HR requires employees to deduct from their vacation balance.

Conclusion

Given the number of bank holidays in May, as well as the local custom faire le pont, don't be surprised if, when emailing your French colleagues, you get a deluge of OOO messages during this period. They are building bridges!

For more information about bank holidays in France, here is an English-language explainer from the French government.

And, for more insights about doing business in France, don't hesitate to get in contact.

Au revoir !