Understanding Christmas time for people of faith in your workplace

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In the UK, Christmas can mean different things to different people, depending on their faith, religion and lived experiences. Steven Taylor, our Member Services Manager, explores Christmas and how we can create an inclusive environment for everyone, at this time of year and beyond.

Christmas time for people of faith in your workplace

As a non-religious person, it’s easy to get wrapped up (pun intended!) in the Christmas festivities of the workplace without giving real thought to the religious meaning(s) behind the holidays. With all the excitement of the celebrations, Christmas parties, Christmas dinner / treats, and traditions such as decorations and ‘Secret Santa’, it can be a whirlwind of a season.

While for a lot of people it is a time of love, happiness, sharing of gifts, relaxation, winding down and spending time with nearest and dearest, this may not be the case for everyone.

It can also be a time of stress, money pressures, loneliness, loss & bereavement and spreading your time thinly between family, friends, and colleagues; it can be both an overwhelmingly positive and negative time for many.

Here we take a short look back on the origins of Christmas, the traditions, and how we can create an inclusive workplace for everyone during this time of year.

What is Christmas and how is it celebrated?

Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the son of God. It is widely celebrated on December 25th; however Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7th due to them following the Julian calendar (created in 46 B.C.) and not the updated Gregorian calendar (created in 1582).

The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the Old English ‘Cristes-maesse’, literally meaning Christ’s Mass, which references the Catholic tradition of holding a special mass ceremony to celebrate Jesus.

Who celebrates Christmas?

Many faiths and cultures around the world celebrate Christmas including Christians, Catholics, and Buddhists, who all have their own traditions and beliefs. Those who are not religious or do not practice faith throughout the year may also celebrate Christmas in a religious or non-religious way.

Reflecting on my own experiences of Christmas, it brings mixed emotions for me throughout different periods of my life and, as I look back, it’s interesting to think about both the religious and non-religious traditions we had, even though I did not come from a religious family.

As a child, I was lucky to experience Christmas filled with love and happiness surrounded by my parents and four older siblings. My family would make the effort to go to Church on Christmas Eve, light a candle, and take part in the local service singing Christmas carols. Christmas day would be filled with gifts and lovely food, we always watched the Queen’s speech on the television, and we would make every effort to spend time with extended family between Christmas and New Year. I have fond memories of Christmas as a child.

As I got older, however, Christmas began to lose its magic a little. My siblings grew older and had families of their own, and along with the increasing financial difficulties for myself as a young adult and my immediate family, Christmas time became a rather quiet time along with the feelings of worry of having to uphold our previous Christmas celebrations.

We no longer had a house big enough for all the siblings and their children to host Christmas dinner, and the stress and cost of purchasing food and gifts for the ever-growing nieces and nephews (now at number 17!) was difficult. We eventually had to scale back and agree that we would all have Christmas separately. None of the family ever did uphold the tradition of going to Church on Christmas Eve either.

“Reflecting on my experience also allows me to consider the many ways in which colleagues may or may not celebrate Christmas, and to be mindful that every individual will have their own religious practices, beliefs, and feelings about this time of year. We must be respectful of that.”

Download our Creating an Inclusive Christmas experience at work factsheet

An office worker in a Christmas jumper writing Christmas cards. In the background you can see their work laptop and a Christmas tree.

My experience of Christmas in the workplace

As I got older and started to enter the workplace in my late teens, I was again hit with a mix of emotions.

Beginning my career in retail, Christmas was always stressful, long hours with barely any time off. I entered the office environment as my career progressed and would see the decorations slowly starting to infiltrate the office. For some reason would begin to feel slightly anxious rather than happy.

Christmas always felt like it came with this huge expectation of having to have a good time and instead for me it brought back memories of the changing years.

I’ve never been great at buying gifts (I’d much rather spend time with people than buy gifts), so ‘Secret Santa’ always filled me with dread, and as Christmas day drew closer and colleagues began to start slowly leaving the office to have time off for Christmas with their families, it left me feeling inadequate as a young, single man. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely cherish spending Christmas Day with those I hold dearest, but to me, the fuss and the hype all for one day, just sometimes felt a lot.

I’ve learnt to deal with these feelings as I’ve got older and have definitely changed my mindset. Christmas for me is all about the socialising, work Christmas parties, and spending time with family and friends in the run up to and around the holidays. I’ve learnt to see it as a time of year to have fun and relax and celebrate the year gone by, rather than a huge build-up to one day!

Christmas and inclusive workplaces

Reflecting on my experience also allows me to consider the many ways in which colleagues may or may not celebrate Christmas, and to be mindful that every individual will have their own religious practices, beliefs, and feelings about this time of year. We must be respectful of that.

It also allows me to reflect on all the other wonderful holidays and festivals at the end of the year.

While not all faiths will celebrate Christmas, the winter season brings a lot of other holidays and festivals, such as Diwali, Hanukkah and Yule. I’ve not been fortunate enough to work in very many diverse workplaces until working at Inclusive Employers, and I’ve learnt so much from my current colleagues who celebrate other religious holidays around this time of year.

One of the biggest questions since working in the Inclusion & Diversity field I hear at this time of year is “are we not allowed to wish people Merry Christmas anymore?” and I often have mixed feelings about this question. On the one hand, I think this question is giving rise in recognition to the increasing diversity of religion and belief we have here in the UK which is fantastic; on the other, it’s often underlined with fear of saying the wrong thing or at worst, discrimination of other faiths.

While Christianity is still the main religion here in England and Wales at nearly 60% (ONS, 2011), we must recognise that there are colleagues of other faiths and religions within the workplace. This does not take away from the fact that we can wish colleagues who celebrate Christmas “Merry Christmas” or celebrate Christmas traditions, however, be mindful throughout the rest of the year of other religious holidays and festivals that you can also celebrate and use this as an opportunity to learn from others about their religion, as well as teach them about your religion, beliefs, and traditions too.

My fantastic colleague Matheus wrote a blog last year on how to be inclusive in the workplace at Christmas and we also have a great factsheet on creating an inclusive Christmas experience.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season and a bright 2024!

Learn more about how to be inclusive at work this Christmas

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Do you need more support for your inclusive culture to thrive?

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