PC culture. Office culture. It seems to be getting harder and harder to stay within the lines and not offend anyone these days.
Especially when it comes to holidays, specifically religious ones. Should you put up a Christmas tree in your office if you didn’t display a Menorah?
That would depend on who works in your office and what their alignments are. Learn about some easy holidays to celebrate in your office are that won’t offend anyone, below.
Holidays to Celebrate in the Office
When you hire someone, you can’t legally ask them their religion. Even if you sent out an email that says “does anyone celebrate Chanukah?” they don’t have to answer.
So what’s the best way to move forward with religious winter holidays? You should either use non-denominational decorations or let employees decorate their own desks. That way you’re not endorsing one holiday over the other.
If they want to put up some thanksgiving greeting cards as decorations, they can do that, on their own desk space.
It’s possible that you’ll have employees ask you if you can decorate the office for a specific holiday. If that happens the best course of action is to take a company-wide vote.
That way everyone, even those who don’t celebrate that holiday, get a say.
Non-Denominational Holidays
Have you ever logged onto social media just to find out this random Tuesday is national donut day, for example? Those are holidays that are sponsored by different companies.
The American government didn’t wake up one morning and decide to dedicate an entire day to donuts, or fishing, or siblings.
But those are fun days to celebrate, and they’re not offensive. You can just pick up a dozen or more donuts on your way to work and create some excitement (and sugar spikes) on a normal day.
Here are some examples of random-fun holidays that you don’t want to miss.
Fun at Work Day
On January 26th of every year, it’s officially fun at work day. You don’t have to spend a fortune taking your employees to Disney world or anything.
You could do something as simple as inviting a food truck to park in your parking lot at lunch. Anything that’s high-spirited and breaks the daily monotony.
Take Your Kids to Work Day
This used to be a fairly common thing when it came to working parents and their kids. We feel like we’re seeing it less, and to be honest, we miss it.
Take your kids to work day is a fun way to make your employees feel like you value them and their family. Be sure to hire a babysitter or two (you can contact a local nanny agency) so that parents can get some work done.
You can choose to celebrate it when it works for you and your company, but officially it’s April 25th.
It’s Worth the Distraction
Some office managers and bosses think that holidays to celebrate in the office are just a distraction. And in a way, they are. But doing fun things around the office is a good way to keep retention up – and an hour or so of distraction is a lot cheaper than finding new employees!
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