Do your employees really know what holidays you're celebrating?

Now that all the stores are featuring huge displays of Hallowe'en candy, I was reminded of an office Hallowe'en party I went to a few years ago, which was a wakeup call about the need for more diversity awareness.

We were all standing around the boardroom eating various pumpkin-shaped Rice Krispie treats, cupcakes with orange and black frosting, and of course there was lots and lots of candy.

One of our newer employees, who'd recently moved to Canada from Mumbai, remarked that she "always" enjoyed these Hallowe'en parties, because she loved candy.

"But," I said, "you weren't here for last Hallowe'en, were you?"

"Well, you know - whatever that last one was where we also had candy."

It took me a second, but then I realized she was referring to an Easter egg hunt we'd had the previous April - which, of course, was also heavy on the sweet treats.

To me, this was a good example of how often we just don't think about diversity in the workplace. It had never occurred to me that to some of our new Canadians, all these celebrations - our office tended to bring out the candy on Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving and even St. Patrick's Day, as well as Hallowe'en and Easter - were a bit bewildering. Sure, most new Canadians, regardless of religion or culture, were aware of Christmas, but 'holidays' like Hallowe'en are often new (and probably meaningless) to them.

More importantly, it made me realize that we weren't doing a good job of celebrating their big days.

Celebrations like the Diwali (Hindu), for example, feature lots of sweetmeats - perfect for an office which likes to bring out the cupcakes and candy for other events!

So this year, when you find yourself putting the company plastic-pumpkin-filled-with-candy in the lobby, you may want to approach one of your new Canadian employees and ask them about their favourite cultural holiday - and then make plans to celebrate it, as well.