We close - and pay everyone. But we do state in staff handbook that it is "An extra day - given at companys discretion". the employees see it as a perk.
We actually close on the Wednesday afternoon & reopen the following Wednesday morning. They are discretionary days given by the company, but we are paid for them. The same applies at Christmas. It evens out to approx 30 annual leave days per year.
The bosses thinking being that it makes up for a lack of similarity between our pay and that of our peers.
Trust me, the extra holidays don't make up for the lack of pay. It really puts the pressure on to take your holidays, I was regularly carrying over as much as 12 days every year. But it is very handy for childcare reasons