Boss' Day is a secular holiday celebrated on October 16 in the United States and Canada. It has traditionally been a day for employees to thank their bosses for being kind and fair throughout the year. The holiday has been the source of some controversy and criticism in the United States and Canada, where it is often mocked as a Hallmark holiday

Hallmark holiday

"Hallmark holiday" is a disparaging term, used predominantly in the United States, to describe a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally significant event...

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One interesting feature of this occasion in India, is that bosses present gifts to their subordinates.

History

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 at the time and chose October 8 because she forgot that the birthday of her boss, who was her father, was actually on the 16th. Four years later in 1962, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner

Otto Kerner, Jr.

Otto Kerner, Jr. was the 33rd Governor of Illinois from 1961 to 1968. He is best known for chairing the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and for accepting bribes....

backed Haroski's registration and officially proclaimed the day.

National Boss' Day has become an international celebration in recent years and now is observed in countries such as Australia, India and South Africa and very recently Ireland and the UK.

Hallmark did not offer a Boss' Day card for sale until 1979. It increased the size of its National Boss' Day line by 90 percent in 2007.