Understanding Lunar New Year: Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

What is Lunar New Year?

Lunar New Year, which also has many other names, including Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, or Chunjie, marks the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar and falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice.

According to Royal Museums Greenwich, it is a time to celebrate the beginning of the new year as well as to commemorate “removing the bad and the old, and welcoming the new and the good” and involves many different types of solemn and celebratory events. The holiday is celebrated and honored in many different ways, including a thorough cleaning of your home to remove any bad luck, honoring and remembering ancestors, dancing, fireworks, lighting colorful lanterns, giving red envelopes to family members containing money, and making and sharing traditional food and drink.

According to USA Today, approximately two billion people across the globe celebrate the Lunar New Year, and the date of the holiday changes every year, with the lunar calendar.

This year, Lunar New Year falls on Saturday, February 10th (although the exact timing of the new moon depends on where you are in the world).

What can you as an employer do to ensure the inclusion of this holiday in your workplace?

First and foremost, employers should always make sure that any celebrations they are hosting at work are held authentically, are well-researched, and maintain respect for diverse employee populations. If you don’t already have one, you may want to consider creating a small group of employees that helps plan culturally sensitive and inclusive events.

If you don’t currently have a holiday policy that allows for time off to celebrate diverse religious or cultural holidays, consider allowing employees to shift or trade holidays, i.e. give them a certain window of time whereby they can adjust any set paid holidays, i.e. up to 15 days before or after the company holiday or allow employees to trade up to two holidays a year.

You can also institute a policy whereby employees can take a certain amount of floating holidays per year to observe the religious or cultural holidays that are important to them. Be mindful that floating holidays in California may be considered the same as vacation time/earned wages (and may require you to pay them out upon termination, if unused).

How can I ensure that I’m being inclusive and sensitive to all the holidays and events that are important to my employees?

This is where surveys can be great tools to check in with employees on what cultural events they typically observe. Consider sending out a survey to your staff to see what holidays, events, and celebrations are important to them. While it may be challenging to celebrate all holidays, making a conscious effort to understand your team is a great place to start.

Happy Lunar New Year to all those who celebrate and please reach out to our team at People415 for tips to celebrate diversity and create a more inclusive organization!