#019 Let People Celebrate Their Own Important Days
We’re not talking about birthdays here.
It’s the beginning of October and it’s already happening: people are talking about Christmas.
They’re making plans, they’re organising office closures and they’re being bombarded with Christmas advertising.
Not everyone celebrates Christmas but, usually, everyone is expected to take time off over this period. Most of us, too, are expected to observe public holidays that are centred around Christianity (for example, Easter).
If you’re part of a religious or cultural group that celebrates days outside of this, it can make it hard to take the time off you need to celebrate with your friends or family.
So, whats the big idea?
In October alone, there are a dozen or more celebrations happening outside of the Christian (and AFL) calendar:
- The Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival is the second largest celebration in China after Lunar New Year, and fell on 1 October this year.
- The Jewish holiday of Sukkot is happening between 2–9 October, followed by Shemini Atzeret on the 9–10 October
- The Hindu festival of Navatri is happening between 17- 26 October, with Dusshera happening on the final day.
- Mawlid is the celebration of the birthday of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and falls on 28–29th October.
This is just to name a few.
So, the idea for this week is simple: ask people what days are important to them to celebrate, and give them the time off to celebrate them.
This year, there are 10 days of public holidays here in Victoria. By giving people the choice to work through these days, and choose their own days of celebration instead, you’re giving them the space they need to honour the things that are important to them culturally, or religiously.
Getting Started
One way I’ve seen this done well is a quick survey as part on onboarding. Along with asking if they’d like us to celebrate their birthday with them, we’d also ask all new starters if there were days they celebrated throughout the year that weren’t part of the Victorian calendar of holidays.
If the person indicated yes, we’d chat with them to organise the time off and make sure their changed availability was communicated to the rest of the team. As easy as that.
Along with being an incredibly simple way to acknowledge and respect the diversity in a team, this practice also encourages people to learn more about different cultures and celebrations. We also found it was an opportunity to bring celebrations into the office and learn more about them together as a team.
As with all personal information and preferences, make sure the way you ask is optional and not mandatory. If people would prefer to celebrate in private, or prefer not to disclose their religious or cultural background, that’s their right too.
Conversation Starters
If you need some ways to open this conversation with peers, seniors or even your own internal dialogue, here are some things you could ask:
- What holidays and occasions does our office recognise and celebrate?
- Are there any non-Christian or non-colonial holidays in our calendar?
- In what ways can we make our public holidays and celebrations inclusive?
- How else might we support people in celebrating the days that are important to them?
Going Further
It’s important to note that what we choose to celebrate gives life to certain concepts and ideas. A prime example is the ongoing debate around changing the date of Invasion Day (also known as Australia Day).
As organisations, when we celebrate a day that is distressing to so many people, we ignore the reality of what underpins the occasion.
As organisations, we can be part of changing the date and changing the perception of Australia’s past too.
What we choose to celebrate and what we choose to ignore has power. Use it wisely!
