Happy Leap Day! Though many may look at February 29th as being stuck with just another day in the middle of winter – there are some perks that come along with it.
For starters, last year that February transit pass was only good for 28 days; this year that February pass is good for one more. And it means one day of rent-free living for apartment dwellers whose rent remains unchanged even though the month is longer than usual.
For businesses, Leap Day means an extra day to meet or even exceed monthly sales quotas. And it also means a rent-free day because most leases simply cover each month not the number of business days per month.
But despite February 29’s clockwork appearance on the calendar every four years, many businesses forget about the little financial technicalities that Leap Day brings. Hourly employees, for example, need to be paid for an extra day of work. Salaried employees on the other hand are technically working for free today because like rent and transit passes, salaries aren’t adjusted to make up for the extra day. However, depending on which day of the week payday falls, the extra salaried day could affect payroll because it may result in having to allocate funds for an extra paycheque in 2016.
And although your business lease is by the month, your utilities bill isn’t and so it will likely be higher than usual to reflect an extra day of activity.
Year-end financials will also need an asterisk attached to them because the one extra day of business will make exact year-over-year comparisons difficult.
At the end of the day though, the financial boosts and repercussions as a result of Leap Day are negligible and any business that does suffer a slight loss because of it can easily make it up in the following months. In fact, changes in the weather statistically play a bigger factor on a company’s long-term financial health than an extra day in February.
So seize the day and take February 29th for what it is – an extra day to do business, an extra day to do something that goes above and beyond your regular routine or an extra day to live rent-free.
