Christmas office parties with a diverse workforce

[mids2019]

Work forces have a diverse range of religions within the workforce. In my role I now see that there is maybe a little.questioning of how to frame the Christmas do as Christmas is a festival originated by Christians and so may feel a little exclusive given we do not have a departmental organised Eid or Divali celebration. Should the office Christmas do be reframed as the end of year party slightly divorced from Christmas as a celebratory period? (The office do also brings question of whether an alcohol fee venue may be appropriate which can get a bit contentious.)

I am not Christian.

I work in a diverse organisation. (Extremely diverse- it's an international organisation).

We have a Christmas party. I cannot recall any issues about that ever.

We have a system in my work- you choose the party or a voucher. That way, if you don't celebrate/don't want to go/have issues with alcohol, you can choose a voucher for a restaurant instead.
Fwiw we also do office Christmas, Diwali and Eid celebrations within the office as we have people who celebrate each.

Just checking, it is a party you are planning, not a group church service?

Does anyone opt out of the two days bank holiday and insist on working over the break?

Would calling it a Winterval celebration exclude Australians who would be having Summervals back home and make them sad?

I think just have the fucking Christmas party and serve alcohol and stop trying to be so special.

It's great that you're reviewing the appropriateness of the event, just because something has been done in the past doesn't mean it has to be done again.

Christmas means different things to different people, many other faiths have a Christmas that focuses on food and family. Many non practicing Jews have the tree/presents/Santa etc. Christmas can be about Christianity but for many it isn't.

The way to make a Christmas party inclusive isn't by changing the name but about the consideration into what/when/where. Is the timing appropriate for parents and if not is it optional. Alcohol is an issue for some people; a restaurant or activity where alcohol is served is fine with the majority of Muslims for example but a pub - where sale of alcohol is the primary purpose - is not. In a modem workplace an event with the purpose of attendees getting shitfaced should never ever be mandatory.

You’re over-thinking- it’s fine to have a Christmas party. Presumably it will be a celebration of a secular Christmas- mince pies and Slade etc. if you’re planning High Mass then obviously think again 😂

What I do think is important is to have good options for non-drinkers, whatever the reasons for not drinking.

That;s strange. I know plenty of jewish people who don't mind celebrating Christmas- I am one of them. I go to Christmas parties all the time. My more religious parents go to their Christmas office parties as well with no issues.

I am a Hindu and have Christmas tree, exchange gifts, go to Christmas parties, just enjoy the whole festive atmosphere. Not sure why you have to think so much about it.

We're a brown, non alcohol drinking family, who've been doing Christmas since my parents arrived here in the UK in the 70s. You're being ridiculous...one of the pet hates of a lot of us "diverse people" is other people (usually white atheists) getting offended on our behalf for daft reasons. Don't use us as an excuse to cancel Christmas, you'll only increase the resentment towards us that genuinely does become an issue.

I have non-Christian friends who enjoy Christmas parties, but certainly don't want their religious festivals marked by Christmas-style office celebrations, because of rules around food and so on...it's not one size fits all!

Yes, I think this kind of thing can happen in some particularly ‘right-on’ workplaces where some people take pleasure in policing the inclusiveness of the organisation, their immediate management and their colleagues.

I organised a ‘winter quiz’ last year, with questions from popular culture, popular music, general knowledge and from several different faiths or faith traditions. It was a small organisation and I had thought very carefully about what I put in the quiz. I still got cries of ‘Not inclusive!’ during the quiz when actually what those people were upset about was that they couldn’t answer a particular question (because it related to another group’s traditions or they simply didn’t know!) and they really wanted questions specifically tailored to themselves.

It can become very hard work!

Bloody hell. Even my halal ME/NA friend's restaurants run by ME/NA people do a staff Christmas do....

A lot of assumptions

Is this so someone can wear a badge that says 'look at me I am inclusive'

I think it is simpler to ask people what they would like

OP you have a touch of the ‘white saviour’ about you. Poor ethnic minorities are so sensitive that they will feel excluded over a Christmas party and only you have the wisdom and vision to make sure this doesn’t happen. Ffs 🤦🏻‍♀️ If you were in a Muslim country would you be insisting Eid was cancelled in case it upset other religions? I think not.

I worked in an office where the majority of the employees and boss were Muslim. Our boss found it important to say ‘Happy Holidays’ rather than Merry Christmas, in ingoing and outgoing communications etc. But we had Christmas trees and a Christmas do, although we did always try to choose alcohol-free venues so some of the stricter Muslims could attend. (Definitely not all of them cared about alcohol being served, but some wouldn’t have come. I liked to make sure everyone could be included).
We’d get loads of Christmas hampers from clients and do little raffles to divvy those up.
Similarly when it was Eid we would also have cards / treats in the office etc (for those not off).

Try imagining that your parents/grandparents moved to another country before you were born, and while you grew up with an understanding of British culture and your family's religious background (if any), you've also spent your whole life joining in the fun and festivities at whatever the local celebratory events are — in your school, the local town, your workplace, etc. Then without asking you (or any other members of the varied bunch at your place of work), a well-meaning colleague renames the annual party on your account, to something blandly unreflective of local customs and heritage, and starts talking about removing aspects of it that you might choose not to participate in but many other people enjoy, to be inclusive to you. How would you feel about that?

I think the idea of a British festival that is all encompassing is a good way to view Chrisstmas and ias a festival of has become disconnected from a certain faith. In that sense it differs a little from other celebrations where there is a more direct connection to faith.

The office party in our organisation has moved on time from one focused on alcohol to one where eating is the primary focus and it is all for the good really. What we wanted to avoid was Christmas as in a work gathering being people assuming going to the pub was the only option.

I've worked in culturally diverse places and have never known anyone turn down a Christmas party because they're not Christian.

It's part of the culture of the country, like Easter and Guy Fawkes night. You'd never get a Muslim country not celebrating Eid and it would be wrong to even think of asking!

Unless you get everyone to sing carols and have a little worship service I think it's fine.

@DumboHimalayan

I take your point but on the other hand do we as a country recognise maybe Christmas is celebrated in ways it wasn't over 50 years ago? Someone mentioned Christmas celebrated in Australia where obviously historically Christmas was an import from colonial powers (similar to the US and indeed many parts of the world).

I think in a sense there has been a gradual change of Christmas being a religious festival to one of general festivity any way so there is also natural progression from anything that relates to a particular faith.

it's an interesting question how we have used the legacy of faith to define some parts of our culture

I think the idea of a British festival that is all encompassing is a good way to view Chrisstmas and ias a festival of has become disconnected from a certain faith. In that sense it differs a little from other celebrations where there is a more direct connection to faith.

I know we are talking about UK here but "British festival"... Yuck.
Your inclusivity is excluding Christians and people from other countries where Christmas are cultural tradition, you know.

I can't understand why you tie yourself into knots about Christmas because of diverse workforce and then make it into British festival... Which excludes lots of the diverse workforce.

Christmas lights in Seoul and Mumbai. I still think you are overthinking things.

From your latest post, you're overthinking things way too much, too the point that you'll just upset everyone. It's all so sterile and joyless.

And again...not what us "diverse people" want.

British festival sounds fucking joyless.

You do realise that the birth of Jesus (and indeed his life on earth and second coming) is all a key part of the Qu'ran and Islam too, right?

I'm bowing out of this thread now and hope to all that is holy that we never end up as colleagues.

Oh get a life.

I'm Jewish and I join in with my work Christmas events to the extent that is comfortable for me. I sign work cards when they are client courtesy, but do not send any myself. I join in with Secret Santa, but wear a Chanuka jumper on Christmas jumper day. I swerve carol concerts and church services, except for when I worked in schools and part of my role was to support children with SEN participating in these things. I go to the work Christmas parties and have fun.

I join in with work Christmas events, just as I join with friends' Christmas events, just as I join in with friends' birthday events. Just because it's not about me, doesn't mean it offends me.

Don't look for offence. Recognise the UK's cultural history. Instead of limiting - widen. Celebrate more festivals.

(As an aside, I wonder how Catholics feel about celebrating 5 November?)

Articles on Christmas in Beijing and the Middle East https://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/christmas-in-beijing.htm.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/2022/12/13/the-best-christmas-lights-in-the-middle-east/

No. We do enough bending over backwards in this country to not offend people. Too much in fact
People have the choice to participate or not
They also have the right to be offended if they so wish. Most are not. It's the virtue signallers getting offended on their behalf