De-Centering Christmas: Recognizing other Holidays
To celebrate or not: the big Christmas debate
For many people in Western societies, Christmas is an important part of the year. But what about those who don’t celebrate Christmas?
This is an annual discussion in many workplaces - in fact, the debate around whether or not companies should be celebrating Christmas is so big, there is even a Wikipedia page on Christmas Controversies.
Some people believe the holiday(s) should be celebrated as Christmas since Christianity is the majority religion of most Western countries. On the other hand, there are those who believe that Christmas does not belong in the workplace because it undermines diversity at work. More extreme views even advocate for the removal of all celebrations around this time and foregoing finding diverse ways to celebrate the holidays.
The debate rages on, but ultimately, it is up to you as a leader to decide how you celebrate the holiday season in the workplace - if at all.
In 2020, we know that there is a multitude of cultures, religions and forms of expression. It would be naive of us to believe that everyone in our office celebrates Christmas and, truthfully, acting as if everyone has the “Christmas spirit” squelches the meaning of workplace diversity.
There is space to recognize the diversity of religious expression by making sure that everyone feels heard and included throughout the holiday season.
Read on to learn how you can work to decenter Christmas this holiday season and work towards creating a more inclusive space.
De-Centering Christmas: Recognizing other Holidays
We all know that diversity in the workplace is essential for success. It is the way towards new ways of thinking and helps you reach out to a wider range of customers in order to grow your business. Despite this fact, and the idea that we live in a massively multicultural society, it seems that the way we celebrate Christmas at work has traditionally taken priority over every other religious or cultural celebration throughout the year.
While bringing a little holiday cheer to the workplace is an excellent way to help improve morale, maintain productivity, and increase interconnectivity, it’s often difficult for companies to celebrate the holidays. Especially in Western societies, without having it focus entirely on Christianity and Christmas. There are many other holidays that are celebrated around the world by people of other religions and cultures around this time. These include (but are not limited to) Chanukah and Kwanzaa.
It’s important to be mindful that there are holidays other than Christmas that are celebrated and that not everyone celebrates the same way. Being thoughtful as an employer, or even as an employee towards your fellow colleagues around this time can help you avoid situations where anyone feels excluded or not part of the festivities.
This can arise both with respect to time off and with respect to holiday celebrations.
Not everybody wants to celebrate the holidays at work
Beyond those who do not celebrate Christian-centered holidays, not everybody on your team will enjoy this season. In some cases, those who express their dislike of the celebrations seem hesitant to voice their opinions, for fear of being labelled a “Scrooge”.
In other cases, some people do not like to celebrate the holidays as they may not have a positive relationship with their family and can be a source of grief and stress.
These are considerations that also need to be made. In some cases, promoting a diverse and accepting workplace means giving people space to ignore Christmas or to opt-out as they please.
Tips on decentering Christmas for 2020
As a manager, it’s important to help employees feel included by recognizing the religious observances important to them throughout the year. It’s important to acknowledge that while the “holiday season” is most commonly known as the Christmas season, for many, the holidays are not just Christmas, even if they live in a predominantly Christian-society.
Here are some of our best tips for holding more-inclusive year-end events:
Start with a diverse planning committee
Bring your diverse voices to the table and avoid any potential missteps by involving people with varying beliefs in the planning process, if they choose to. But remember: not all people of the same faith or culture choose to celebrate and observe holidays the same way.
1. Avoid scheduling mistakes
Keep an interfaith calendar on hand to avoid booking events or celebrations on any of the non-Christmas holidays that fall in December. From there, collaborate with your employees to find out which holidays are important to them. Add those to your list and find ways to recognize those celebrations and holidays on top of other holidays you already celebrate.
Every year, Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day on Dec. 8. And Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins this year on December 10 and ends the same time on December 18.
Even though it is not in December, Hindus celebrate Diwali every fall. These are all considerations that you must remember when planning your end-of-year celebrations.
2. Make it voluntary
Avoid making any celebration (or any event) obligatory. Especially if you’re hosting a holiday party, do not make it mandatory for your employees to attend. There is a large group of people that may not feel comfortable attending. For example, those who are practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses, don’t celebrate holidays.
In other cases, your employees may have personal reasons for wanting to avoid celebrations. Some of these may include those who are grieving, depressed or otherwise dissatisfied with some aspect of their lives may find the holiday season to be painful reminders of people or things that they’re missing. An example of this could be found in the case of Thanksgiving. For many Indigenous groups, Thanksgiving is a day for grieving and not a day for celebration.
Also, some Hindus, for example, may have long grieving periods following the passing of a close family member where they are unable to attend social gatherings.
For every event or holiday, it’s vital that you let employees and supervisors know that attendance is optional. It’s sometimes not enough to just let someone know that something is not obligatory, so it’s essential that you create a space that understands social pressure. People may feel that their boss could get upset or offended if they do not attend - to get ahead of this, it’s best if managers communicate that events such as these are not tied to performance. This can help their employees realize exactly how voluntary a company holiday or event really is and that there will be no consequences if they choose not to go.
3. Open up discussions and education around other beliefs
Creating conversations around beliefs can help show people that they have more in common than they think. Indeed, some may fear and avoid conflicts that they think can erupt over discussions of religions, but such conversations can help educate as well as dispel stereotypes and misconceptions, if done respectfully.
In the past, workplaces have discouraged any conversations around religion, due to fears of conflict. We believe that a workplace culture that discourages employees from discussing their faith may in fact lead to more division, hindering DEI efforts. Employees may seek out those who have the same backgrounds and religions as themselves, and may worry or fear those who are different from them. Avoidance will certainly lead to mistrust. Creating opportunities for discussion is paramount to building trust and fostering an inclusive workplace.
According to Gallup, 21% of the U.S. population reports holding no religious identity or faith tradition. This group also includes atheists and agnostics. As a manager or an employer, it is easy to be inclusive of these individuals as well. For instance, through building awareness around special recognition days or months that shine a light on human or civil rights, such as Black History Month and Transgender Awareness Week.
Don’t forget to make it clear that they can easily opt-out of these events as well.
4. Introduce floating holidays at your company
Recently, there has been a number of companies that have adopted the practice of “floating holidays,” which helps offer floating holidays, or flexible days, so they can take time off for religious observances that are personally meaningful.
In the case of these floating holidays, it’s important that managers recognize and respect those holidays as well as offer them as paid days off. They should be regarded as a day off and there should be no expectation on the part of the employee to respond or email on these days.
5. Invite feedback and input
Work to create feedback loops with your employees on events, holidays and celebrations. An anonymous feedback channel can help provide safety as your employees share their opinions on how management and HR are approaching the holiday season and other yearly holidays.
If your employees want to leave their names, they should also be able to do so, and you will then have a way to follow up and hear their suggestions and concerns. A safe space where employees can provide feedback without fear of reprisal is key to advancing DEI efforts in the workplace.
It’s an ongoing job
Practice forgiveness with yourself when you’re building out new initiatives and practices in an organization. Decentering Christmas can come with challenges. At the end of the day, an inclusive and diverse company is not an infallible one.
Everyone stumbles on their journey, the key is to create a culture of understanding and acceptance, so that when things don't work out, you’re able to course correct and build off of feedback without missing a beat.