Imagine walking into a workplace where every cultural background is celebrated and recognized in unique ways. In this article, founders and VPs share their valuable insights on fostering an inclusive environment. Discover how implementing a flexible holiday policy can strengthen company culture and conducting internal showcases can enhance team cohesion. With a total of nine expert insights, this article provides a comprehensive guide to enriching workplace culture through diversity and inclusion initiatives.
- Flexible Holiday Policy Strengthens Company Culture
- Cultural Potlucks Promote Understanding
- Start Meetings with Cultural Icebreakers
- Create Journey Maps for Team Empathy
- Implement Heritage Spotlights for Inclusion
- Adopt a Curiosity Mindset
- Gamify Diversity with Inclusion Badges
- Organize Events During Heritage Months
- Conduct Internal Showcases for Cohesion
Flexible Holiday Policy Strengthens Company Culture
As the founder of a legal process outsourcing company, one practical way we’ve celebrated the diverse backgrounds of our employees is by implementing a flexible holiday policy.
Instead of offering just the standard national holidays, we allow team members to take off days that align with their personal or cultural celebrations, whether it’s Diwali, Lunar New Year, Christmas, or other important days in their traditions.
I remember an instance when one of our team members, who celebrated a regional festival, was able to take the day off without the stress of using vacation days. This simple act not only showed respect for individual cultures but also encouraged an atmosphere of inclusivity and understanding.
The result has been a more engaged, loyal team who feels their backgrounds are recognized and valued. It’s a small change that’s had a big impact on employee morale and productivity, creating a workplace where everyone feels they can truly thrive.
Aseem Jha
Founder, Legal Consulting Pro
Cultural Potlucks Promote Understanding
I always prefer to take a proactive approach by holding cultural potlucks where employees can share dishes from their respective backgrounds. This promotes understanding and appreciation for different cultures which allows individuals to showcase their heritage and traditions.
I also implemented hosting lunch-and-learn sessions where employees can teach others about unique aspects of their culture, such as holidays or customs. These sessions have been well-received and have fostered an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and respected.
The impact on our workplace culture has been significant. Employees feel more connected and engaged, leading to improved collaboration and productivity. This way, we have created a more welcoming and accepting environment where individuals can bring their whole selves to work. This has helped attract a diverse pool of talent, making our company more competitive in the market.
Daniel Cook
HR / Marketing Executive, Mullen and Mullen
Start Meetings with Cultural Icebreakers
Our Monday and Thursday morning team meetings start with cultural “icebreaker” questions that help our remote team learn about each other’s backgrounds. With team members across the U.S., Asia, India, South Africa, and Canada, these conversations build real connections beyond just work tasks.
The questions range from sharing traditional holiday celebrations to explaining local customs or favorite hometown dishes. Recently, a team member from India shared about Diwali traditions, while another described unique aspects of life in South Africa. These regular exchanges have transformed our virtual meetings from routine check-ins into opportunities for cultural learning and genuine connection.
Building an inclusive culture isn’t about grand gestures—it’s about creating regular moments for people to share their experiences and perspectives. These simple weekly conversations help our global team feel more connected and appreciated for who they are, not just what they do.
Aaron Whittaker
VP of Demand Generation & Marketing, Thrive Digital Marketing Agency
Create Journey Maps for Team Empathy
During our team retreats, we dedicate time for employees to create a “Journey Map”—a visual story of their life experiences that shaped who they are today. These sessions help everyone see their colleagues not just as professionals, but as individuals with rich, complex histories. It’s an activity that builds empathy and connection in a way nothing else does.
The “Journey Map” activity has created an unspoken culture of empathy, where colleagues truly understand and appreciate one another beyond their job roles. It’s led to a noticeable increase in team cohesion, as people are quicker to offer support and celebrate each other’s achievements. This deeper connection has directly contributed to a more positive and productive workplace atmosphere.
Jeffrey A. Preszler
Partner, Preszler Law Alberta
Implement Heritage Spotlights for Inclusion
As a diversity consultant, one creative approach I recommend to organizations is implementing “Heritage Spotlights.” This initiative involves dedicating a regular team meeting or company-wide event to exploring an employee’s cultural background, inviting them to share traditions, foods, or personal stories that matter to them. The key is authenticity—creating a safe space where people feel celebrated rather than tokenized. These spotlights educate teams and foster empathy and a sense of belonging. When employees feel their unique identities are valued, it has a ripple effect, boosting morale, collaboration, and retention across the workplace.
Lekeshia Hicks
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Strategist, Lekeshia Angelique Consulting
Adopt a Curiosity Mindset
Committing myself and my team to a curiosity mindset is an important step in helping everyone learn “willingly” about others’ experiences and backgrounds. Each month I produce an activity document that suggests podcasts, books, quotes and more. One of the things I do to make this more creative is to help them do fun things like family scavenger hunts that encourage learning about other cultures and then we can talk later about what we all learned and how other things have influenced us or our own unique cultures. Learning about others should be fun, not punitive.
Aleasa Word
Dei Consultant & Executive Coach Consultant, A. Word & Company
Gamify Diversity with Inclusion Badges
Gamify your diversity! Gamifying is a trend in Learning and Development that serves as a bright spot for other areas of business to learn from; with this in mind, only the section of badges is the takeaway for businesses right now. Creating inclusion badges or areas of pride for team members, especially in a remote environment, can be a great way to celebrate diversity with a low administrative lift. Several HR communities do this in webinars or training sessions, asking to share your DEIB badges as a hashtag.
Why should this be limited to only HR professionals? Using tools within Slack or your rewards systems can give you the framework to create badges or “gamification” for team members to showcase their experiences or what makes them their own person. Ensuring it as a voluntary program allows those wishing to share the ability to do so and those wishing to not share not feel forced outwardly. Overall, badges have been used successfully in the learning space and in the DEIB space where businesses could also utilize this method as a quick win with little lift.
Kelly Loudermilk
Talent Innovator, BuildHR, Inc.
Organize Events During Heritage Months
In my work consulting to organizations, I advise managers on cultivating more employee engagement through recognizing and celebrating the diverse backgrounds and experiences of employees. This can be done effectively by organizing events during heritage months that honor the culture of employees, as well as throughout the year. Hosting employee resource groups that foster communities for various identities at work can be very supportive and can increase engagement and connection among work colleagues. Lastly, making an effort to get to know your employees more deeply and being sure to be inclusive, pronounce names correctly, and know a person’s family background can make a big difference in that individual feeling a sense of belonging.
Farzana Nayani
Dei Consultant & Author, Farzana Nayani, Consulting & Training
Conduct Internal Showcases for Cohesion
One way that we encourage our CEO clients to recognize and celebrate the backgrounds and experiences of their employees is to conduct internal showcases. If you’ve ever been to a job fair, you have the opportunity to highlight company strengths to outside prospects who might be interested in working for your organization. This is similar, but it’s intended to highlight key departments and to make their projects and strengths known to other internal stakeholders. Many times we don’t know what other departments do, how our skills might be transferable to other functional areas, or how to best collaborate with another area. This showcase serves the purpose of breaking down silos, helping to create more cohesion between functional areas, while also promoting talent development.
Carolina Caro
CEO Conscious Leadership Partners., Conscious Leadership Partners