| Holiday Name: | Boss' Day |
| Duration: | 1 day |
| Frequency: | annual |
| Observedby: | United States |
| Date: | October 16 (or nearest working day) |
Boss's Day (also written Bosses Day or Boss' Day) is generally observed on or around October 16th in the United States. It has been pitched as a day for employees to thank their bosses for being kind and fair throughout the year. The concept has been opposed as nothing more than a meaningless Hallmark Holiday, as well as placing unfair pressure on employees to kowtow to managers who earn more than they do while exercising power over them.[1]
Patricia Bays Haroski registered "National Boss' Day" with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958. She was working as a secretary for State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois for her father at the time and chose October 16, which was her father's birthday.
The purpose was to show the appreciation for her bosses she thought they deserved. This was also a strategy to attempt to improve intra-office relationships between managers and their employees. Haroski believed young employees sometimes did not understand the hard work and dedication that their supervisors put into their work and the challenges they faced.[2] Four years later, in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner backed Haroski's registration and officially proclaimed the day.[3]
Hallmark Cards did not offer a Boss' Day card for sale until 1979.[4] It increased the size of its National Boss' Day line by 28 percent in 2007.[5]
Alison Green in U.S. News criticized it, saying "Traditional etiquette says quite clearly that any gift-giving in the workplace should be from a boss to an employee and not the other way around. The idea is that people shouldn't feel obligated to purchase gifts for someone who has power over their livelihood, and managers shouldn't benefit from the power dynamic in that way."[6]
The Society for Human Resource Management suggests having HR handle appreciation for supervisors may be more appropriate in large companies.[7]