5 Steps To Level Up Your Heritage Month Approach
Is your organization having a hard time deciding how to celebrate heritage months and cultural holidays? Do you feel pressure to add rainbows to your company logo in June, but aren’t sure how to promote LGBTQIA+ inclusion in a meaningful way? Developing an inclusive approach to heritage holidays can be tricky, but we’re here to help your organization build a strategy that works for you.
What is a heritage holiday?
Heritage holidays–also referred to as cultural holidays or heritage months–are holidays that bring awareness to the histories, contributions, and traditions of historically marginalized groups. Examples of heritage months in the United States include Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, Pride Month, Disability Pride Month, and Latinx Heritage Month. Examples of heritage holidays include Lunar New Year, International Day of Transgender Visibility, Juneteenth, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, National Coming Out Day, and International Day of Persons with Disabilities, among many others.
We know that acknowledging and celebrating heritage holidays is a critical part of creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Research shows that 57% of consumers are more loyal to brands that commit to addressing social inequities in their actions and 94% of Gen Z expects companies to take a stand on important social issues.
It’s important to your employees, it’s important to consumers, and it’s important to your business. Here are five steps to ensure a sustainable and human-centered approach to heritage holidays.
5 steps to ensure a sustainable and human-centered approach to heritage holidays
1) DEVELOP A STRUCTURED APPROACH AND STICK TO IT
We know that it's unrealistic to acknowledge every heritage holiday, whether internally or externally. Instead of reactive or sporadic programming, it’s critical to develop a thoughtful and sustainable approach to celebrating heritage holidays. Here are a few questions to consider:
Which heritage holidays have we celebrated in the past and why?
Why do certain holidays feel especially pertinent?
Do we have the budget and resources to match our internal efforts to our external efforts? (If you aren’t acknowledging the heritage holiday internally, you should not be posting about it externally).
Will honoring this holiday feel performative to employees belonging to this identity group?
How can we center employee and customer experience in our approach?
How will we know we’ve been successful and what does impact look like?
Pro tip: Assign clear ownership of heritage month initiatives to ensure consistency and sustainability in programming. Ownership will look different depending on the size of your organization and the resources available. We know it’s impossible to host an organization-wide event for every heritage holiday, however, assigning roles and responsibilities ensures accountability and makes efforts more sustainable.
2) UPGRADE PROGRAMMING TO MOVE BEYOND SURFACE-LEVEL CELEBRATION.
Your approach to external messaging should first start with internal programming or conversation. When your organization chooses to celebrate a heritage holiday, make sure you provide concrete ways for your team to engage and learn. Examples include:
Learning and Development: Hire a speaker or facilitator to facilitate discussion related to the heritage holiday. Be sure to research partners carefully. Where possible, prioritize working with small businesses and experts who belong to the social identity that you are celebrating.
Lunch and Learn: Cater food from a local restaurant and watch a documentary or discuss an article related to the holiday. This is a great budget-friendly way to support local businesses. Don’t worry if your team is remote or distributed–you can still send out a list of local restaurants and provide a way for employees to expense their meal. When sharing educational resources, be sure to also provide opportunities for meaningful discussion. Prioritize safety and accountability in these discussion spaces to protect folks from harm. Share resources externally with your clients or customers.
Social Impact Partnership: Work with a local nonprofit to volunteer as a team. If your team is remote or distributed, share volunteer opportunities and provide employees with Volunteer Time Off to spend volunteering.
Financial Donations: Be sure to thoroughly research the organizations your company chooses to donate to. Consider matching employee donations.
Pro tip: Make sure employee feedback is taken into consideration, but do not explicitly place the burden on employees from a related identity group to educate you. Unless it’s written in their job description, employees and outside vendors alike should be compensated for any labor supporting these events.
3) BALANCE CELEBRATING THE IDENTITY WHILE ALSO ACKNOWLEDGING KEY HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The majority of heritage holidays originated to bring awareness to the histories, contributions, and traditions of historically marginalized groups. Both internal and external communications should look to balance content that sheds light on historical events with celebratory content that serves to increase representation. Superficial messaging that only celebrates an identity without acknowledging structural inequities or historical events can feel performative. Similarly, over-indexing on historical hardship with no clear goals or outcomes is harmful and insensitive. Ensure your communications and programming find a solid balance between the two.
Pro tip: Avoid using proxy language (i.e. “communities of color” instead of “the Black community”) when speaking about heritage holidays. Always be specific, informed, and intentional with the language you choose.
4) AVOID CENTERING WHITENESS OR MAJORITY GROUP IDENTITIES
For both internal programming and external messaging, your main goal should not be to help white or majority group employees feel more comfortable discussing an unfamiliar topic. The purpose of acknowledging these holidays is to promote a sense of inclusion for all employees, not to virtue signal to customers while catering to dominant groups. Heritage holidays such as Juneteenth or Indigenous People’s Day are celebratory while also serving as a reminder of the oppression and trauma that specific identity groups have experienced in the United States. If you feel the need to whitewash these holidays to cater to dominant groups, your team should reconsider the need to acknowledge these holidays in the first place.
Pro tip: Above all, center employee experience throughout your programming. Never make assumptions about how an individual or group would want to celebrate their identity.
5) CONDUCT RESEARCH AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FEEDBACK
Heritage holiday programming requires intentional research and planning to avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes. Build out a multi-level review process to include a variety of diverse perspectives in all programming and messaging. Create opportunities for employees and customers to share feedback on efforts related to heritage holidays.
With the right amount of structure, commitment, and a human-centered approach, you’ll be well on your way to developing an inclusive strategy to heritage holiday programming.