This question comes up every year during the holiday season. How do you go about celebrating the holiday while keeping the terminology politically correct? Each individual has his or her own way of celebrating their spirituality, so things can get sticky when a specific terminology is used to celebrate time away or at work, such as Christmas Party verses Holiday Party. Laborers may become quite offended if you call a celebration a Christmas party, but the laborer is not Christian. It is not unusual for managers within an organization to find themselves in an uncomfortable situation or lawsuit over terminology used innocuously.
The assumption is that if an organization is privately owned, that it does not matter what terminology is used. Unfortunately, even though the sentiment is kindly meant, individuals may find this to be offensive. The general rule is to keep terminology general and open the festivities up to other denominations. For instance, if Christmas is celebrated within your organization, consider asking if workers have an interest in celebrating Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or Bodhi Day.
Keep in mind, holidays are not a right and are given to employees as a benefit, so it is not necessary to give everyone time off every time a holiday comes around. However, if you provide holiday pay for celebrating Christmas is may be wise to offer the same benefit to individuals that celebrate other ethnic or religious holidays instead of Christmas.
This is not an easy situation to resolve. If you encounter an issue at work, then an open mind and understanding is an essential attribute to have. Look at alternative for individuals that do not celebrate the same holidays as you and speak with a human resources consultant or attorney to help you make decisions that affect employment policies.
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2 comments:
These are timely suggestions for CEOs as they plan holiday happenings. Again, the legality of the issues are critical; check with labor lawyers before making any sweeping changes in format. If you don'tr plan on doing that, make it 'business as usual' to avoid situations.
That can be difficult at best. Individuals have the right to celebrate their religeous beliefs, so just make certain that whether you celebrate holidays or not, that you treat everyone equally.
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