It is hard to believe it’s the beginning of December. It is time to finalize preparations for the holidays and revisit the evergreen question on whether and how employers should address Christmas.
Especially with companies moving back toward on-site celebrations, it’s important to consider how we ought to deal with faith in the workplace. Unfortunately, many organizations, including ones that generally value inclusion and diversity, expect their employees to leave their faith at the door. Companies support employee resource groups based on race, gender, and sexual orientation, for example. But a Bible study group? Almost never!
Employees are also expected to be kind to each other. But, please, don’t wish a colleague a “blessed” day.
Diversity initiatives have various themes from ethnicity to gender identity. But religion is rarely addressed, and when it is, it usually means “anything other than Christian.”
Yet for many employees, faith is an important part of who they are. And how an employer handles Christmas sends a very small but symbolic message about the inclusion of those of the Christian faith.
We cannot credibly preach inclusion and at the same time practice exclusion when it comes to faith. So, if you are an employer, I ask you to rethink your holiday plans if those plans include scrubbing any reference to Christmas. It’s not just the holiday you are scrubbing.
Here’s one example: One of my clients did not want to offend anyone, so they had a “December dinner” last year, refusing to call it a Christmas party or even a holiday party. In their serious attempt to erase Christmas, they ended up looking silly and offending many.
By all means, put up a Christmas tree. It’s beautiful, says this Jewish guy who proudly wears his grandmother’s chai (a Hebrew letter that means life). But I’d also ask you to consider representing other holidays as well. Consider having a Hanukkah menorah in addition to the Christmas tree, for example
Your employees can help you with this task. Ask them for suggestions for holidays to acknowledge and/or celebrate this time of year. And learn more about holidays of other faiths, too, so you can increase religious inclusivity.
What about greetings? Can you wish someone a “merry Christmas”? Short answer: Yes. I disagree with the formal or informal workplace edicts to avoid “merry Christmas” but prefer to instead apply the more vanilla “season’s greetings.”
This might vary depending on the person with whom I’m talking. If I know someone is Christian, I wish him or her a “merry Christmas.” Why wouldn’t I? To do otherwise strikes me as disrespectful and uncharitable.
For me, it is no different from Hanukkah. I love when someone who knows I am Jewish wishes me a happy Hanukkah. And if I know someone celebrates Hanukkah, I wish him or her a joyful Hanukkah.
And if I don’t know what holiday someone celebrates or whether they celebrate any holiday at all, I don’t ask. I don’t guess. I stick with the more general good tiding of “season’s greetings.”
The speech police, who go beyond civility and threaten our workplaces with sterility, would have you believe it’s offensive to wish someone a “merry Christmas” if they are not Christian. I live to tell how I have survived such vicious attacks. When someone wishes me a “merry Christmas,” I respond: “Thank you, and merry Christmas to you, too.”
I assume good intent behind good wishes. At a minimum, let’s not automatically assume bad intent.
We need less dissection of words to find fault and more focus on the meaning behind the words to find a connection. If someone is wishing you well, embrace it. I know I do.
So, let’s include the peace and happiness of Christmas in our December celebrations. And let’s just not forgot the other holy days and holidays as we approach this wonderful time of the year.
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Jonathan A. Segal is a partner at Duane Morris LLP in the Employment, Labor, Benefits, and Immigration Practice Group. He is also the managing principal of the Duane Morris Institute.
