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Purpose of Guide
One of the biggest challenges organizations ask us about is: How do we decide which holidays and observances to recognize? Trying to celebrate everything is neither practical nor impactful. Instead, the key is intentionality—choosing what aligns best with your team’s values and culture.
Workplaces today are more diverse and global than ever, which means acknowledging traditions, holidays, and celebrations beyond our personal experiences is critical. Across the world, these moments carry deep cultural, religious, and historical significance. Recognizing them sends a powerful message to team members: You belong here.
Our Global Holidays, Observances, and Celebrations Calendar is a tool designed to help you identify, prioritize, and celebrate dates that matter. This isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about sparking meaningful connections, promoting belonging, and aligning celebrations with your organization’s mission.
Introduction
This guide is built for leaders, HR teams, equity practitioners, and communications leads who want to mark special days that resonate with diverse, global teams. When done thoughtfully, celebrating important dates helps build an inclusive workplace where people feel valued for who they are.
Approach
- Understand Your Team – The Foundation of Meaningful Recognition
- Turn Insights Into Action – Designing an Intentional Celebrations Calendar
- Go Beyond the Expected – Celebrating with Purpose
- Build Trust Through Transparency – Evolving Your Calendar With Confidence
Understand Your Team – The Foundation of Meaningful Recognition
The first action for celebrating inclusively is understanding who makes up your workforce. Check out our resource: Exploring 40+ Dimensions of Diversity and Intersectionality at Work to learn more.
Examples of Areas to Explore
- Cultural Backgrounds: What celebrations matter most to your team (e.g., Lunar New Year, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, etc.)?
- Religious Practices: Are you acknowledging important holidays (e.g., Diwali, Ramadan, Hanukkah, etc.)?
- Languages Spoken: Are you recognizing linguistic diversity (e.g., International Mother Language Day)?
- Generational Interests: Are you celebrating milestones that resonate across age groups (e.g., National Senior Citizens Day, International Youth Day, etc.)?
- Caregiving Responsibilities: Are you supporting caregivers with relevant observances (e.g., National Caregivers Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.)?
How to Gather Insights
- Surveys: Keep them voluntary, anonymous, and straightforward.
- Focus Groups: Create spaces where team members can share what’s important to them.
- HR Data Analysis: Leverage existing demographic data for a clear picture of your team’s diversity.
- Collect Feedback: Invite team members to evaluate the impact and relevance of holiday observances and iterate as a result of that feedback.
Turn Insights Into Action – Designing an Intentional Celebrations Calendar
Once you’ve gathered insights, use them to build a calendar that represents your team and aligns with your organizational values.
How to Build a Balanced Calendar
- Identify Themes: Use your insights to identify themes like cultural heritage, gender equity, or generational milestones.
- Choose a Range of Observances:
- Religious: Ramadan, Diwali, Hanukkah
- Cultural: AAPI Heritage Month, Black History Month
- Global: International Women’s Day, World Mental Health Day
- National/Regional: National Indigenous Peoples Day, Hispanic Heritage Month
- Blend Big and “Small” Moments: Pair widely recognized dates with less familiar observances that reflect your workforce.
- Engage Team Members: Involve your team members to co-create your calendar.
Questions to Ask Yourself
- Do these dates reflect the diversity of our teams, departments, and organization?
- Are we including celebrations across identities (religion, ethnicity, ability)?
- Are we balancing culturally specific and universal observances?
Go Beyond the Expected – Celebrating with Purpose
Thoughtful recognition creates a lasting impact. Design celebrations that are meaningful, inclusive, and educational.
How to Make It Authentic
- Provide Context: Pair observances with education, like workshops, speaker events, or storytelling sessions.
- Collaborate: Let your teams co-lead or contribute ideas. They’ll feel more invested in the celebrations.
- Communicate the ‘Why’: Share how these celebrations align with your organizational mission and equity-related goals.
Build Trust Through Transparency – Evolving Your Calendar With Confidence
Transparency builds trust. Team members want to understand the reasoning behind certain date selections and feel confident that leaders considered their input.
How to Build Trust
- Share Your Process: Explain how data and feedback shaped your decisions.
- Be Flexible: Acknowledge that your calendar will evolve as your team grows and changes.
- Welcome Feedback: Regularly ask how the calendar can improve.
Questions to Ask Yourself
- Have we clearly communicated our approach?
- Are team members confident that the calendar reflects their diversity?
- Are we open to making adjustments as needed?
Takeaways
Creating a calendar is about more than marking dates on a planner. It’s about taking meaningful action to reflect the diversity and values of your team, especially as workplaces become more globalized.
- Start by listening to your people and understanding their experiences.
- Build a calendar that reflects the richness of your team’s diversity.
- Celebrate with purpose, not for appearances.
- Be open to feedback and keep evolving.
This calendar is your guide to creating a workplace where every team member feels acknowledged, valued, and celebrated—not just during special occasions, but every day.
Important Note
This resource is not meant to be a static guide, but rather a compilation and reflection of our learnings to date. Everything changes - from technologies and innovations to social norms, cultures, languages, and more. We’ll continue to update this resource with your feedback; email us at hello@feminuity.org with suggestions.
About The Author
This resource was written collaboratively by members of the Feminuity team.
Give Credit Where Credit's Due
If you wish to reference this work, please use the following citation: Feminuity. "Prioritizing What Matters: A Guide to Key Dates"
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