Not your typical holiday, MLK Day depends on business.
No one at VFC works 40 hours.
They all work 40 plus—45, 50, 60 hours—some are working all of the time. Our brains are never off when it comes to thinking about advancing client campaigns and missions.
I am not detailing these facts as justification for being officially closed on Monday, January 17. Martin Luther King Jr. Day shouldn’t require justification, but to underscore the dedication that every VFC employee has to VFC and to our clients.
Virtual Farm Creative is a boutique creative shop. Every full-time employee is a creative, wearing many different hats to uniquely—and successfully—serve multiple clients every day. We are small… every part required for the summation of the whole and, in turn, VFC’s part is necessary to make our clients whole. VFC has never been closed on the third Monday in January.
Although Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. Day—as a national holiday—wasn’t officially signed into federal law until 1983 and wasn’t actually observed by all 50 states until the year 2000.
VFC incorporated the year before, in 1999, and adopted the official holiday schedules of our clients. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day, Memorial Day Labor Day and the Fourth of July. Employees are compensated and observe each holiday in any way they choose.
Even back then, in January 2000, as a conscientious corporate citizen, VFC wanted to include Martin Luther King Jr. Day—and we’ve wanted to every year since—but it’s always a demanding time of year, coming off of the holidays and on the busiest day of the week…
I am not detailing that fact as an excuse for why VFC never closed in observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but that’s exactly what it’s been, until now.
When you compare the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to other American holidays most small businesses work through, the difference is profound.
In 2022, we had an epiphany.
In the culture of the American economy, small private businesses will never turn down productivity—they’ll never accept an additional day in that holiday calendar without a mandate.
Only small businesses can make the decision to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day properly. Only small businesses can elect to close and offer their employees an opportunity to be of service to their communities. Only self-imposed mandates can transform MLK Day from a day with no mail or banking to a day that inches societal improvement forward.
Currently only about 42% of all employers give employees the day off and observance is most popular among nonprofit organizations and least popular among factories and manufacturers—the categories most VFC clients fall into. It’s understandable—they don’t want to lose a day of productivity—they don’t want to give a competitor a day advantage.
VFC is productive too, and competitive, but we also want to contribute to larger changes for good in our communities whenever possible. If we can help to increase that percentage to 43 in 2022 and get a few more people giving back to their communities—if only for a day, that is nothing if not productive.
When you compare the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to other American holidays most small businesses work through, the difference is profound. There are eleven official holidays, most businesses officially observing eight, but none come with a challenge like Martin Luther King Jr. Day does.
In 1986, Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Georgia U.S. Representative John Lewis initiated the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, challenging Americans to transform King’s holiday into a day of citizen action.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day millions of Americans perform volunteer service in honor of Dr. King and his unfinished legacy. They couldn’t do this without small business embracing the unparalleled importance of the man and the holiday.
If it’s an economic dilemma, businesses can forgo another day—that’s how VFC did it… MLK Day is that important. Did you know, as I write this, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi share King’s official holiday with the state observation of Robert E. Lee’s birthday (Texas and Florida also still celebrate the confederate General, but on a different date).
Without bringing politics into business—never a good idea—it’s plain that honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. by supporting what he stood for is an action VFC will take because we can, and we challenge other businesses in our sphere of influence to do the same.
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Backed by years of solid agency experience, VFC is an innovative and energetic team of award-winning copywriters, designers, illustrators and programmers prepared to grow your brand and your business. VFC delivers strategic marketing, advertising and public relations campaigns for a diverse roster of clients from a 170-year-old, high-tech renovated farmhouse in the heart of Chester County, Pennsylvania. For more information call 877-GROW ART or visit VFC on the web at www.virtualfarm.com.
