The best way to have inclusive holiday celebrations is to stay away from personality images and stick with the colors of the season. For instance, you can avoid religious connations and the Easter bunny but include spring pictures, tulips, and pastel colors. You can do the same with every holiday. Stick with the holiday colors but leave images of legends, folklore, or religious identity out of the office.
There is no better way to make a celebration in the workplace truly inclusive than to come up with a holiday, which officially does not exist. It can be your just company’s day. Free from religious, historical, and political issues. No one to unintentionally offend. No potentially controversial holiday details to avoid by all means. No language, food, or decoration matters to worry about. The list goes on. Just a group of happy people from different backgrounds, enjoying the party.
Inclusive holiday celebrations are simpler than we think. Most holidays have a traditional meal or dish associated with it. This is a great starting point for fostering full workforce inclusion and joy of any given celebration. Everybody needs to eat, and holidays often showcase the best aspects of any culture. Along with some delicious provisions to nibble, some basic history and information about the holiday is a wonderful way to include everyone in a celebration. Particular fans of a holiday would be great to plan and prepare the celebration effort. They can also stage a light discussion about holiday customs and traditions as the food is being served. Whether familiar or foreign, holiday celebrations are about community and love. The best way to bring people together is through food and storytelling.
Allow employees to express themselves through multicultural decor and celebratory events. Don't just celebrate traditional cultures, but all of them. This is a great opportunity to learn about new cultures and employees will feel excited to participate in the celebration. As a business, it also increases employee productivity and encourages collaboration in a fun and relaxed setting.
Some employers mistake 'inclusivity' as making sure all employees participate in every celebration to feel included. I think the whole point of inclusive holiday festivities is to create a warm and welcoming environment where everyone feels like they belong. Making employees feel like they must attend even if they don't enjoy it beats the purpose of such celebrations. I find it essential to communicate with your staff that these events are just for fun, and their absence won't be held against them. I myself have noticed some employees looking miserable at otherwise cheerful celebratory events and know for a fact that some attend solely because they fear what their coworkers might think or they might be overlooked for an upcoming promotion. No matter how excited you are about whatever events you have planned for the holidays, it is essential to respect everyone's unique views and accept that not everyone is comfortable participating in religious celebrations.
Adaptability is a key to business success, and executives should extent embracing the trait to enhance company culture by creating a way to acknowledge holiday celebrations observed by all of their employees. As a team lead at ExpertInsuranceReviews.com, an internet media services company of all-remote workers, we put this into place by scheduling a special holiday video conference. We were mindful of scheduling the get-together early in the holiday season so it wouldn't fall on any specific holiday. The informal event included a roundtable in which each team member was invited to share a favorite holiday celebration. We also put a broader spin on our games, from featuring trivia about different holiday celebrations to seeing how well we knew our coworkers by guessing each other's New Year's resolutions. Also, in our holiday-time communications, whether it be via email, Slack, or video meetings, we used the salutation "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas."
First, remember that all holidays are holy in some way. The word “holiday” itself is a combination of an alternate spelling of “holy” and “day.” If there is someone who is particularly excited about a given holiday, ask for them to lead the workplace celebration effort. Provide them support of another colleague or two. No one likes to plan and prepare a party alone. Encourage a short educational conversation (could be a guided dialogue with the party-planning committee) about holiday history and customs over a traditional dish or pastry.
Inclusive holiday celebrations mean giving equal importance to holidays from diverse cultures. Send out your holiday calendar to all employees and encourage them to add to it whatever holidays are most meaningful to them. You can involve employees in presenting the holidays, introducing traditions related to them, and ultimately enrich the cultural awareness of your entire team.
First and foremost, make sure that your celebrations are free of any offensive language or content. This can be a challenge, but it is important to be sensitive to everyone's needs. Additionally, do not use holiday-specific terminology in your office conversations. For example, do not refer to Christmas as "Winterfest." Instead, use generic terms like "Christmas gift-giving" or "Christmas party."