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Purpose of Guide
One of the most common questions organizations ask us: How do we decide which holidays and observances to recognize?
Trying to acknowledge everything is neither practical nor impactful. Instead, the key is being intentional: choosing what aligns best with your team’s values, organizational mission, and the communities you serve.
Today’s workplaces are more diverse and globally connected than ever. Recognizing traditions and observances beyond our own lived experiences is essential, both inside our teams and across external relationships. Whether you’re supporting employees, connecting with customers, or engaging communities, being mindful of key dates helps build stronger and more inclusive systems and communications.
Our Global Holidays, Observances, and Celebrations Calendar is a tool to help you identify, prioritize, and respectfully acknowledge the moments that matter. This is not about checking boxes. It’s about aligning your internal culture and external presence with your values and commitments.
Introduction
This guide is designed for people leaders, HR teams, equity practitioners, operations staff, and communications professionals who want to engage with important dates in ways that support both internal culture and external engagement.
When done thoughtfully, acknowledging observances strengthens belonging and signals a genuine commitment to equity across your organization and the broader community.
Approach
The approach we take is grounded in these four ideas:
- Understand Your People and Audiences
- Turn Insights Into Action
- Go Beyond the Expected
- Build Trust Through Transparency
Understand Your People and Audiences
An inclusive approach to observance planning begins with understanding who you are designing for, both within your workplace and across your external relationships. That includes the people who make up your workforce as well as the clients, customers, service users, and communities your organization interacts with. Use our resource, Exploring 40+ Dimensions of Diversity and Intersectionality at Work, to deepen your understanding of the identities and experiences that may shape observance needs.
Areas to Explore
- Cultural backgrounds: What traditions or holidays hold significance for your teams and the communities you serve?
- Religious practices: Are there observances that affect internal operations or external availability?
- Languages spoken: Could you reflect more intentionally on linguistic diversity?
- Generational interests: Are you including observances that resonate across age groups?
- Accessibility and Flexibility: Are you recognizing that individuals may face access barriers related to disability, caregiving, health, or other aspects of identity that affect engagement? Consider what accommodations or flexible options can help ensure equitable participation.
Ways to Gather Insights
- Surveys: Keep them voluntary, anonymous, and simple.
- Focus groups: Create space to explore what matters and why.
- Community feedback: Listen to clients and partners about what they value.
- Data analysis: Use existing HR and service data to surface patterns and priorities.
- Ongoing evaluation: Invite feedback on what resonates and iterate with care.
Turn Insights Into Action
Once you have internal and external insights, use them to build a calendar that reflects your people and priorities.
How to Build a Balanced Calendar
- Identify themes: Look for shared values such as cultural heritage, mental health, or gender equity.
- Select a range of observances:
- Religious: Ramadan, Diwali, Hanukkah
- Cultural: Black History Month, Lunar New Year
- Global: International Day for Persons with Disabilities
- National/Regional: National Indigenous Peoples Day
- Blend familiar and lesser-known dates: Combine widely recognized moments with others that reflect your audiences more deeply.
- Involve others: Invite input from employees, clients, or partners to ensure a broader view.
Key Questions
- Do these dates reflect the diversity of our workforce and the communities we serve?
- Are we balancing specific identities with universal values?
- Are we building alignment between culture, communications, and operations?
Go Beyond the Expected
Acknowledging a date is only the first step. Meaningful observance includes context, education, and connection across both internal and public-facing efforts.
Ways to Make It Meaningful
- Provide context: Share the history, meaning, and significance behind the date.
- Communicate intentionally: In internal messages and public content, explain how the observance aligns with your values.
- Engage others: Invite employees or community members to help shape programming or messaging.
- Be specific: Avoid generic or surface-level acknowledgments. Prioritize relevance and clarity.
Build Trust Through Transparency
People inside and outside your organization want to know how decisions are made. Transparency builds credibility, inclusion, and accountability.
How to Build Trust
- Explain your process: Share how insights shaped your decisions.
- Be honest about limitations: You cannot recognize everything. Share why you chose what you did.
- Stay flexible: Your calendar should evolve as your team and audiences grow and change.
- Invite feedback: Make it easy for people to suggest improvements or raise concerns.
Key Questions
- Have we clearly communicated how and why dates were chosen?
- Does our calendar reflect who we are and who we serve?
- Are we open to iteration and learning?
Takeaways
An inclusive calendar is more than a list of dates. It is a reflection of your values, a tool for connection, and a strategy for building belonging inside your organization and beyond.
- Start by listening to your people and communities.
- Choose observances that reflect your values and audiences.
- Provide meaningful context and engage with care.
- Be transparent about what you choose to include and why.
- Stay open and adapt as you grow.
Used thoughtfully, your calendar becomes a living resource that supports equity in your internal culture and your external presence all year long.
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 blog 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"
