What is one way your business is honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month (9/15 - 10/15) in the workplace? What is one strategy that other businesses should implement to best honor this observation?
To help you best honor National Hispanic Heritage Month in the workplace, we asked HR managers, CEOs, and business leaders this question for their best plans. From developing a themed virtual trivia event to recognizing Hispanic employee achievements, there are several ways to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month with activities and events that truly celebrate the Hispanic people and their culture.
Here are 16 ways these leaders plan to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month in their workplaces:
- Develop a Themed Virtual Trivia Event
- Organize a Financial Education Program for Hispanic Customers
- Acknowledge and Reward Your Hispanic Employees
- Host Webinars on Latinx Culture and History
- Have Spanish Language Lessons
- Connect to Hispanic Traditions Through Music
- Feature Hispanic Role Model Quotes in Email Signatures
- Offer a Cooking Lesson for Hispanic Food
- Encourage Employees to Read Hispanic Authored Books
- Host a Potluck
- Invite Hispanic Employees to Talk About Their Culture and Heritage
- Organize Latinx Happy Hours for the Team
- Get Employees to Donate to a Local Charity That Supports Hispanic Communities
- Provide Incentives for Employees to Support Latinx-Owned Businesses
- Host a Panel of Hispanic Executives to Share Insights About Their Career Journeys
- Recognize Hispanic Employee Achievements
Develop a Themed Virtual Trivia Event
In our company, we honor National Hispanic Heritage Month annually by developing a themed virtual trivia event. This product enables other companies to honor the occasion in the workplace and educate employees in fun, non-preachy ways. However, the game also serves as a way for our own organization to facilitate team bonding and promote cultural recognition. Just today, we hosted an internal demo of National Hispanic Heritage Month trivia. Our staff worked together and competed to answer questions related to Hispanic culture, history, and achievements, and to celebrate the Latinx team members who designed the event. The winning team and the project team each got to choose a Hispanic-serving charity to receive a company contribution.
Michael Alexis, CEO, TeamBuilding
Organize a Financial Education Program for Hispanic Customers
One way we honor our Hispanic brothers during a month dedicated to them is by promoting financial education to our Hispanic customers. Hispanic and Latinos are often denied mortgage loans, and based on data, 82% more likely than non-Latinos, leading them to take a more financially risky route to home ownership that costs higher. It's essential that they know available mortgage options and get educated on how to apply correctly and secure the needed lender requirements to increase the probability of loan approval. We can take this a step higher if they are also taught strategies to build up credit, an important defining factor in a mortgage. Businesses with Hispanic or Latino employees can be helpful if they launch an educational program geared toward teaching employees about various financial benefits and choices they can tap into to build wealth.
Jeffrey Zhou, Co-Founder and CEO, Fig Loans
Acknowledge and Reward Your Hispanic Employees
We’re planning to have a Latinx speaker come to our offices and give some insights into the rich background of the Hispanic culture and the professional and societal challenges they face. Anything you plan around National Hispanic Heritage Month must not tokenize or burden the Latinx cultures further. This day is about celebrating and better supporting the Hispanic community, not pressuring or making it a minority culture’s responsibility to bear. Acknowledge and reward your Hispanic employees, letting the team lift them up together. And if you’re asking a Latinx person to educate or participate, pay them fairly for their time.
Ruben Gamez, Founder & CEO, SignWell
Host Webinars on Latinx Culture and History
At our company, we believe that celebrating diversity is essential to creating a respectful and inclusive workplace. That's why we always take the time to observe important cultural events, like National Hispanic Heritage Month. This year, we've been hosting weekly webinars on Latinx culture and history, and we've also been featuring Latinx-owned businesses in our company newsletter. We believe these initiatives help create a more understanding and supportive workplace for our Latinx employees. Additionally, we think it's important for other businesses to take similar steps to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month. By promoting Latinx culture and businesses, we can help to create a more diverse and inclusive society.
Jim Campbell, Founder, Epic Caribbean Vacations
Have Spanish Language Lessons
A weekly Spanish language refresher lesson is one way we plan to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. Every week, our team’s goal will be to learn a new set of related Spanish sentences and use them in internal conversations where applicable. By including the lessons in our weekly team meetings, both our remote and in-office workers can participate in celebrating the Spanish language.
Lyudmyla Dobrynina, Head of Marketing, Optimeal
Connect to Hispanic Traditions Through Music
We all love music of all kinds in our company so, to celebrate National Hispanic Month, we have challenged the team to come up with a playlist of Latino music that everyone can enjoy. We fully appreciate that Latino music consists of much more than the mariachi, salsa, and samba styles that initially come to mind, so we are looking for as much diversity as they can find. Bonus points will be awarded to anyone who can produce a video of them dancing to their chosen track.
We are hoping that by connecting with the traditions of the Hispanic community through music, the team will gain a deeper insight into the mindset of that section of the population. A deeper understanding should enable them to communicate more effectively with our Hispanic customers. I would recommend that other businesses find an equally enjoyable way for their teams to learn at least a little about the traditions of the Hispanic community.
Colin Palfrey, CMO, Crediful
Feature Hispanic Role Model Quotes in Email Signatures
One simple way our company is honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month in the workplace is adding quotes from Hispanic trailblazers in our email signatures. Notable Latinx leaders often get overlooked in history lessons. Prior to the start of the celebration, we send employees a list of quotes from well-known and lesser-known figures in the Hispanic community past and present, and encourage staff to add their favorite quotes to their email signatures. This strategy spreads awareness and appreciation among our own ranks while also enlightening clients, vendors, and collaborators by association.
Kate Duske, Editor in Chief, Escape Room Data
Offer a Cooking Lesson for Hispanic Food
One great way my business honors the National Hispanic Heritage Month is by observing this month in unique exciting ways. Some ideas we use to show cultural recognition and appreciation is by hosting a Hispanic dance, featuring a Hispanic artist or offering a cooking lesson for Hispanic food.
The best strategy for businesses to honor the month is to offer a cooking lesson. Food is a critical cultural aspect in Hispanic communities for good health. Having a cooking lesson at the workplace and eating Hispanic food is not only fun but shows appreciation of the culture. Collaborating with Hispanic-owned businesses to offer such lessons can also boost Hispanic cultural recognition.
Yongming Song, CEO, Imgkits- Photo Editor
Encourage Employees to Read Hispanic Authored Books
On the occasion of an ongoing Hispanic month, our business tried to be creative and informative. The employees are apprised to bring books either written by Hispanic authors or books describing the journey of Hispanics. A mini library was assembled before the initiation of National Hispanic Heritage Month. In the tenure of 4 weeks, everyone is encouraged to read four books. Like the school library, the books are issued from the office library and read by all the workers. The activity has the power to induce a special side of emotion for Hispanic people in the non-Hispanics. The event is playing a drastic role in changing the outlook and perspective toward the community. The more people read about them, the more they connect and understand them. Increased contentment and love towards the Hispanic heritage make them feel honored.
Rick Nehora, Managing Partner, California Law Firm
Host a Potluck
We have a diverse workforce that reflects the community in which we operate in Latin America. To honor National Hispanic Heritage Month, we are having a potluck to celebrate this month. We also have a diverse team, so we will have a team building game that involves guessing what our favorite Hispanic dish is and who made it. This game is a great way for our team to get to know one another and for everyone to share their favorite Hispanic dish with the group.
Luciano Colos, CEO, PitchGrade
Invite Hispanic Employees to Talk About Their Culture and Heritage
Our business hosts a program where Hispanic employees working under our organizations are present physically or through video conferencing. These employees are invited to talk about their culture and heritage. The program consists of fun activities for the employees and Hispanic food and beverages to support their culture. Also, these employees are provided with care packages as a gratitude from the company and encouragement. This is a once-a-year event which brings all the employees together allowing them to know each other properly. And building new or improving the old relationship. It is a creative way to honor the month and know your workforce.
Jason Vishnefske, President, Santa Barbara Chocolate Company
Organize Latinx Happy Hours for the Team
One simple way in which we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month at work is to theme team happy hours in honor of their culture. It is rather simple to organize happy hours at the workplace that other businesses can also do. You can simply add a stronger Latinx influence to your typical happy hour activities. Some popular Hispanic culture items you can add to your routine are their cocktails, like margaritas and El Salvador, and dishes, like fajitas, enchiladas, and tacos. The Hispanic community has made tremendous contributions to the world with its cuisines, music, and art, and you can honor that by including them in your happy hours. This will make your Latinx employees feel included and celebrated during the month as well.
Kurt Uhlir, Chief Marketing Officer
Get Employees to Donate to a Local Charity That Supports Hispanic Communities
We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a fundraising campaign. Every year, we ask our employees to donate a percentage of their wages to a local charity that supports Hispanic communities. This year, we chose to support The Latino Network, which provides education and advocacy for marginalized Latinx communities.
We believe that this type of giving is an important part of honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. It helps us to practice being leaders in our community by giving back to those who are less fortunate than us, while also celebrating the many contributions that Hispanics have made to our country's history and culture.
Amy Gilmore, Managing Editor, Learn Financial Strategy
Provide Incentives for Employees to Support Latinx-Owned Businesses
Our business is honoring National Hispanic Heritage Month by incentivizing our team to support Latinx-owned businesses and celebrating Hispanic culture. As part of employee enrichment, we have a dedicated online space to engage in the celebration and discussion of national events and holidays. We're posting one interesting fact a day about Hispanic culture and history as a way to engage employees in learning about diversity. We're also encouraging our team to support Latinx-owned businesses in our community.
Brian Munce, Managing Director, Gestalt Brand Lab
Host a Panel of Hispanic Executives to Share Insights About Their Career Journeys
For National Hispanic Heritage Month we are pleased to launch our newest ERG, DailyVida, to further advance our culture of inclusion and belonging. As DEI is foundational to our DNA, we are also hosting an Inclusion Panel featuring executives from clients who are of Hispanic/Latino descent to share insights about their career journeys and leadership perspectives through the lens of their culture. This is designed to raise awareness and bring people towards greater ownership as supportive colleagues and allies.
One of the most important things businesses can do is continually educate employees about the lived experiences of others. This helps elevate voices of the Hispanic/Latino community to help others better understand their unique perspective and bring them towards greater ownership. In today’s market, it’s a business imperative to elevate these voices as currently, they comprise about 18% of the US population, with $2.5 trillion in buying power, according to Adweek.
Michelle Katz, Director, Talent & DEI, DailyPay, Inc.
Recognize Hispanic Employee Achievements
We take Hispanic Heritage Month to take the chance to recognize employees from Hispanic origins and share their achievements, how impactful their presence in our company is and give them a chance to feel not only welcome and accepted but also appreciated. By highlighting their skills and talents we also allow their team members to understand their value, appreciate their work and give them the recognition they deserve.
Denise Hemke, Chief Product Officer, Checkr
Brett Farmiloe is the Founder and CEO – and currently CHRO - of Terkel.io, a platform where business leaders can answer questions related to their expertise and get published in articles featuring their
insights. Brett is a #SHRM22Influencers and has also been a keynote speaker at several state SHRM conferences around the topic of employee engagement.
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