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 worked for an organisation based in Hackney 2 years ago with a really multicultural workforce. We had Christmas trees and lights in the office, did a secret Santa and had a Christmas staff party. No issues whatsoever. But you can rename it 'festive party' or whatever if you think it is a problem.

Interestingly I now work for an organisation based in Shoreditch and they don't want to use Christmas when it comes to end of year events and instead use 'festive'. I think that is idiotic. As people have said this is a long established tradition which is not even closely associated with religion anymore and I really don't see why people would be offended by it.

Don't have one and don't mention Christmas, in fact ignore it all together. So December the 25th will be a normal working day for everyone in your company. Sorted. Or i bet it is not because you won't want that, you will want the day off. You can't have it both ways. We are a Christian country that happily encourages other faiths but people like you cause so much divide.

But Yule is not inclusive to all either. At all actually.
Polytheistic religion celebrations will exclude quite many people. Yule is pagan, yes the original from which we retained some things after Church took over and for a while retained the name while changing it into Christmas, but pagan religions celebration would exclude same or even more people than "Christmas".
State or no state religion, Yule was and is still a religious celebration. Changing name from one religion to other does nothing.
Most religions are quite intertwined with others and developed from older religions in the area. Doesn't mean they are the still the same and names of festivals are interchangeable.

I don't understand why someone would insist on changing the main/state religion and culture in their own country and essential end up deleting it. What's next, language? This was happened to countries under certain rules (I am not talking British now) but forcibly. If you lose your culture (and language) you become nothing and will be taken over by others when having to adopt their culture(language). Different places fought against this and to keep their identity in last 1000s years and now you would just happily do it. It's actually bit weird.

Okay, if "Christmas party" was at some point (or still is) a universal code for "everyone get pissed as fast as possible with a load of random people you didn't choose to spend your days with" then no, people with cultural or religious taboos about alcohol won't be able or willing to participate, I suppose, but then it doesn't really matter what you call it, it's still grim as fuck.

And if that is the office culture, it’s unlikely that it is confined to Christmas.

I organised Christmas parties for several years. We have muslims and jewish colleagues and all came. We had a secret santa (presents organised by the company), table gifts when it was on the 6th December as it's St. Nikolaus and our company is German origin.

The only one who never came was a Jehova Witness and he caused issues in his department as he wouldn't even say the word Christmas so they had to go on a "end of year drink".

I don't see how Christmas is being imposed on anyone. It's a significant cultural event in Britain, anyone who chooses to live here will need to accept that there will be cultural differences to other countries. I wouldn't emigrate to the US and then be sad when my colleagues made a fuss of thanksgiving or 4th of July and I really don't think people of other cultures are begrudging brits of having a Christmas party.

And whilst it is a significant cultural event it's also ok to remember its religious significance. People of other faiths (or no faith) are able to observe other religious festivals, unless you're expecting them to be forcibly converted.

I also don't see how it's unfortunate that not many people attend Eid or Diwali but you're questioning whether they should have Christmas celebrations at all?

I've spent a number of years living overseas and have loved experiencing festivals and traditions in the countries I've lived in I expect the vast majority of non British people living here feel the same. It's fine to continue our traditions.

That said. I'm heartily sick of Christmas parties. Usually you have to pay to attend. It's freezing cold. The food is expensive and mediocre. It's another thing to cram into a busy time of year.

I'd rather spend my time and money on my own family and have a company summer get together when the weather is warmer and hospitality is better priced with better choices.

Well well I am not surprised that the local customs would be eroded in the name of diversity. What is clear is that when one religion is very strong others would have to accommodate for those in that religion.

But Santa Claus comes from Sinter Klaas, which comes from Sint Nikolaas, and many countries celebrate 6th December with religious and secular traditions.

As has already been mentioned in this thread, Christians have very different ideas about how, when and even whether Christmas should be celebrated.

Obviously some parts of Christmas are only religious, but leaving those aside It’s very difficult to pull apart which traditions are based on religion, which bits are based on secular traditions, and which bits are more modern. However there is a direct link from St Nicholas to Santa.

But if the First Minister is a Muslim, surely he wouldn't be able to attend his own events if alcohol was served?

I wouldn't emigrate to the US and then be sad when my colleagues made a fuss of thanksgiving or 4th of July

The equivalent would be “Everyone we need to be sensitive to the fact that we have an employee who is British and might be offended by American Independence, so can we just refer to a ‘Summer fireworks’ to make them feel included.” It would be awful.

Nothing wrong with calling it a Christmas party. Im not a christian but its obviously at this time of year because its christmas. The key thing is to make sure those who are other religions are included. Talk to them, ask them if there is anything that would put them off. Involve them. E.G. when my kids were little I would include on their party invites that there would be no ham/pork & there would be veg optiond so people that didnt eat pig or meat knew there would be food for their kids & they didnt need to worry. You can put measures in place to demonstrate you are being welcoming without some sort of weird denial that most people are getting time off because its christmas.

Agree. And try asking people who celebrate Diwali in the office to tailor their celebrations to be inclusive. I’m guessing the request would be deemed offensive, and ignored. People can do their own thing, and let others do theirs.

You've left it a bit late to change arrangements for this year considering how fast places get booked up for work events.

If you really must be seen to change things - send out an email with a vote for possible alternatives for next year - pub/restaurant/whatever else (one of my work teams are going ten pin bowling) and take votes... majority wins. However I think that Christmas now is more of a cultural festival than religious and people tend to roll with the excuse for a few days off work, some nice lights and tinsel in the miserable winter months and you're seeking unnecessary offence from people who really aren't offended by it.

I usually opt out of work socials - not for any offence being caused but just because I'm socially anxious and I don't enjoy them. Happy for those who do to crack on and get on with it.

I've worked for over 20 years and they only person who ever refused to attend a Christmas event was a Jehovah's Witness. We were a small team and said we would remove the word 'Christmas' and do secret Santa etc at a later time so she could attend, but she still didn't want to

Not only that but non- Christian countries such as China, India, Sooth Korea and multiple countries in the Middle East (including Saudi Arabia) will put up huge Christmas decorations (even with a Merry Christmas message), acknowledging the event. There is no reason for it to be an issue here.

Is this one of those AI posts?

Who worships saints?

It's great that you're reviewing the appropriateness of the event

I don't think it's great at all. What's all this talk of being appropriate? Where has that come from? I don't see why there should be a review on whether something is 'appropriate' when there is nothing whatsoever inappropriate involved.

We're talking about a taking part in a massive cultural event that is ingrained in the country in question. Not a work jolly to the red light district. What could possibly be inappropriate?

This stuff pisses me right off. I am not Christian. Many of my friends aren’t either, and some are deeply religious - Jewish, Muslim and Hindu. Not one of us cares about it being a Christmas party. It’s absolutely fine. It’s a nice way to socialise with colleagues.

What is NOT fine is people assuming offence on our behalf. It’s insulting, creates fake division, and actually helps racists who can point to “winter parties” as proof that we are not integrating and are imposing our beliefs on the UK. Aaarghhhh!

Is it an issue? As a country, we celebrate Christmas and in most cases, it's no longer a religious festival (as in most people celebrating - I include many white British folk here - are not practicing Christians and I doubt give Jesus the slightest thought on the day). It's really just a seasonal festival these days, not a religious one.
I think many people in the UK that have other religions or cultures would be fine having a 'Christmas' party, accepting that it's something that's celebrated in December in the country they're living in. Same as if any of us were living in China we wouldn't feel offended by the workplace celebrating Lunar New Year. If they feel strongly that it's not for them, they'll just decline. But I doubt they'd expect you to have a party for Eid / Diwali any more than you'd expect your office in China to have a Christmas party.
You're overthinking it.

I totally agree with this point

My colleagues are very multicultural but we're all doing secret Santa with a Christmas buffet & they're all happy to join in; the managers said people are welcome to bring in different dishes from their various cultures that we can all try. Half the people are drinking but half don't. It's all good.

I'm not sure as that's custom in the country you live in. I don't think you'd get anyone having a Christmas party for the expats moving to the Middle East. Maybe I'm ignorant, not sure.

Just call it a Christmas do and be unapologetic. It's not like it's going to be in a church. A Christmas knees up is about as divorced from religion as you can get.

It's the annual work do and people can decide to come or not depending on their own criteria for what constitutes a good time.

Don't like being around people drinking, don't go.
Find the veggie/vegan food option a bit uninspiring, don't go.
You all partied out already from divali/samhain/festival of choice, don't go...