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Your IT person is leaving early for a Hanukkah party
while your receptionist is setting up a Christmas
tree. Your marketing department is putting up candles
for Kwanzaa just as your product manager is fasting
for Ramadan.
Here comes the annual December dilemma. How can
companies celebrate or acknowledge the number and
variety of holiday traditions even-handedly without
having to throw multiple parties or alternatively
taking the Scrooge-like approach of discouraging
any parties?
"It's very easy at this time of year to make
a lot of employees feel excluded or like second
class citizens," said Georgette Bennett, president
of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding
in New York City.
The problem is becoming more pronounced in your
average American workplace because America's workforce
is more religiously diverse than ever. At the same
time, only two percent of companies "officially"
recognize any religious holidays other than Christian
holidays, according to a Tanenbaum Center study.
Most offices close on Christmas Day, for example,
but days off are rarely built into the business
calendar for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur or
the Muslim celebration of Id al-Fitr.
Still, some companies are starting to think out
of the holiday box, so to speak. One innovative
way to handle the holiday challenge, for example,
is "holiday swapping" in which non-Christians
can opt for working on Christmas Day in exchange
for taking off on a different religious holiday
of their choice.
Other companies are polling workers to come up
with a list of 21 holidays that are particularly
meaningful to them. They can then choose to observe
any 11 of those holidays.
"It's one of the most meaningful things a
company can do - giving employees time off for religious
observances," Bennett noted.
Another question is how to celebrate holidays in
the workplace without making some co-workers feel
left out or uncomfortable. Many employees feel peer
pressure, Bennett said, to attend holiday parties
which, for religious reasons, they may not feel
comfortable with. Yet they don't want to be viewed
as "not part of the group."
"Companies need to keep the holiday celebration
generic, but also inclusive," suggested Gail
Jern, Human Resources Representative at Westaff.
To start with, holiday planning teams should involve
a diverse group of employees who can help steer
a company away from holiday faux pas. You wouldn't
want to plan the annual employee luncheon during
Ramadan, for example, when your Muslim employees
are required to fast from sunrise to sunset.
Jern suggested allowing employees to recognize
the December holidays that are meaningful to them
through a variety of decorations, perhaps including
a Menorah and a Kwanzaa Kinara as well as a Christmas
tree in the office. Employees can also be encouraged
to bring in their favorite holiday-related foods
like dates and special sweets for Id al-Fitr.
"Remember, this country was founded on freedom
of religion, not freedom from religion,"
Jern said. "We need to embrace everyone's religion."
But also be sensitive to those who cannot celebrate
at all, Bennett noted. Jehovah's Witnesses, for
example, are not allowed to participate in parties,
events or gift giving.
"One case came up at a major investment house,"
she said. "A high level employee was a Jehovah's
Witness. With constant holiday parties going on,
she was so uncomfortable at work she had to stay
home. You don't want to put anyone in that kind
of position."
If an official company party is planned, it's best
to call it a seasonal holiday party, with seasonal
themes and decorations. "Certainly, a lot of
people can be resentful if they are deprived of
any holiday party at all," she said. "The
most important thing is to be guided by your employees
and not make any assumptions."
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