If December comes around and you find that your company is rife with conflict around communications, policies, and office decor, you're not alone. Many companies still struggle to find authentic strategies to create an inclusive culture during the holiday season.
In the corporate landscape in the U.S., while we have a long way to go, companies are more conscientious of fostering a sense of belonging for the vast diversity of employees than ever before. But as they navigate the process, complexities and nuance arise among employees and leaders alike.
Creating Belonging Amidst Diversity
We must create an environment where those who don't fit the mold of the majority can still hold their heads high in the office, not unduly expend energy on assimilating or navigating the misplaced expectations of others and knowing that they are accepted in their humanity.
Creating that sense of belonging and inclusion starts with the intention to invite employees to bring their whole selves, without feeling that they might lose value or be unconsciously (or consciously) side-lined if they don't fit the dominant culture. Here are a few tips for the elements that support this.
Assume you don’t know - While it may seem easy to assume what holidays and cultural traditions are relevant to an individual based on what you know of their background, it's vital to allow employees to tell their own stories. Some ways to do this include sending anonymous surveys requesting individuals share what in-office traditions are essential. Perhaps a slack channel asking teams to provide their visions for holiday celebrations with the company for a smaller team. If your company chooses to create a committee to decide on these formalities, it's essential that this team be as diverse as possible to ensure all voices are heard.
Avoid comparison and competition - Creating space for belonging for all team members means allowing their stories and traditions to be heard without feeling they might be viewed negatively. Instead, conversations should have a tone of curiosity versus comparison.
An example of comparison might look like this, “You don’t drink alcohol on your holiday? It’s not the holidays without alcohol. That’s insane.”
An example of curiosity might look like this, “I haven’t heard of that dish before. I’d love to try it someday. It reminds me of one of our family traditions of eating handmade tamales.”
Be clear on your values - Knowing why you're bringing holiday traditions to the office is essential. Is it a part of employee engagement initiatives? Or does the company value and prioritize religious engagement as part of the culture and values system? Note that your intention in answering these questions may also be very different from others’ perceptions of that intent. Focusing on aligning your actions with your values will help make choices on the specifics of how you celebrate holidays and the amount of religious tradition invited into the workplace. If your goal is engagement, your priority should always be to ensure that the environment you're creating doesn't push a specific ideology.
The Zero-Sum Fallacy of Inclusion
One of the critiques that often comes up is the concern that inclusiveness equals erasure of the Christmas holiday. To include someone else, I have to forfeit something about or for myself. “Why has “Merry Christmas” been taken from me?!”
We hear this in many areas related to diversity, most notably the concern that hiring more BIPOC results in underrepresentation of white workers, which has been demonstrated to be a false belief.
Perhaps you have heard, said, or even really lamented, “can’t we just call it a Christmas party since that’s what it is?!” Of course, you can, and at the same time, you should also know that doing so may solicit a feeling of ostracization from the attendees, regardless of their religious inclinations.
Similarly, it may be received perfectly fine by someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas. You’ll not know until after you’ve run the risk of offending someone. A 2019 Gallup Poll found that 93% of U.S. Americans celebrate Christmas, but there is significant diversity in traditions even among those observing the holiday. This means that even among those celebrating Christmas, some forms of language, decor, and activity can still be polarizing.
Inclusive holiday language is designed to consider diverse traditions (secular or religious) and enjoy a season of celebrations without creating distractions that don't benefit the company.
Using terms such as Happy Holidays in the office or providing representation of several traditions in the same space simply removes an element of possible contention that can deflate the progress you’ve made in employee engagement. This doesn’t mean that those who celebrate Christmas are being silenced, but rather that the company itself will not prioritize one tradition over another as a statement of inclusivity.
Centering belonging
Holiday observances are just one example of the myriad ways in which your company can foster belonging by allowing multiple perspectives and modes of expression to coexist. Centering this thought process into your daily leadership perspective can also lead to more profound expressions of inclusive thinking, such as recognizing great candidates from vastly different backgrounds or knowing that someone is ready to be promoted to a management role even if your vision of a leader has previously looked different from that individual.
Specifically:
Ask a diversity of people what they want (don't over-engineer this) and then make space for it to happen such that multiple perspectives and modes of celebration can coexist.
Consider how enabling others’ sense of joy and belonging will only uplift your own around whatever holidays you do or don't celebrate.
Foster belonging cues for people whose perspective you maybe weren't able to capture in the first bullet above. That is, step outside yourself to create spaces for folks that haven't yet complained that they don't feel included. What would it be like to walk in someone else shoes? What would foster joy and a sense that they have a place?
Each step forward to challenge your worldview leads to a greater understanding of how you can create a diverse and connected workplace.