Christmas PC gone mad!
December 8, 2009
It’s that time of year again where some HR departments start to get a bit twitchy about the forthcoming celebrations around our most widely and loudly celebrated festival – Christmas. Not only are we worrying about what behaviour will happen at the Christmas party (actually I’m more worried about the fact that we are having Karaoke at ours this year!), but in the last few years many organisations have taken the bizarre step of actually banning Christmas in their organisations, for fear of offending any non-Christians!
So, we all have time off at the same time, but we’re not allowed to celebrate the reason for it. A huge amount of our workforce celebrate Christmas, but they’re not allowed to be happy about that in the weeks leading up to the festival – what is happening? I think it all started a few years ago when a few local authorities (wouldn’t you know it) started to ban the sending of Christmas cards within the workplace, would not allow a sniff of tinsel in the office, and did not organise a Christmas party. There was a frankly ludicrous survey carried out in 2006 that claimed that 74% of employers had banned Christmas decorations (if this was true then there are far too many HR practitioners out there that are afraid of legislation).
There is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas in the workplace, as long as it is recognised that not everyone celebrates it, that there are other religious festivals throughout the year, and that people of different faiths are recognised in their beliefs and are similarly allowed to celebrate their festivals if they want to. Most non-Christians will not be offended by their colleagues celebrating Christmas and will probably be pleased to receive Christmas cards with wishes for a happy holiday period, as even though they will not hold festivities, they will still be spending the Christmas break with their families and catching up on much needed rest. Some small things to consider are that some employees may not wish to attend the Christmas party, and should not be treated any differently if this is the case, also it is a good idea to avoid important sessions such as company updates or team building activities at Christmas events if there are employees that will not be attending for religious reasons. Apart from that, I really don’t see what the fuss is all about, and if we stop letting people celebrate the annual festivities of all the religious and other festivals, then the workplace would become a very dull place indeed.
Things to consider:Christmas Lights at great prices.
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