¡Hola! I’m Giuli and I’m from Costa Rica — happy Hispanic Heritage Month! This month is a great time to highlight some of the different cultures and traditions within your company — and it opens the door for employees to show up as their authentic selves for work every day. Here are three issues to consider, as you work to build inclusion and engagement with your employees by celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month:
Hispanic is not just Mexican
Hispanics from different countries have a wide variety of traditions, celebrations, and food. Giving employees the opportunity to showcase their own culture is a great way to celebrate the uniqueness of everyone’s experience.
For the past few years at Tribe, I’ve hosted a Costa Rican Independence Day celebration at the office. We compete at Costa Rican trivia, and share home-cooked arroz con pollo, beans, pico de gallo — and of course, enjoy some Imperial (our national beer) with lime and salt. It’s fun to share a piece of my culture and see my co-workers invested in learning about it and enjoying my traditions.
Hispanic isn’t the same as Latino
Using the term Hispanic vs. Latino, Latina or Latinx can have different effects on people. Generally speaking, Hispanic refers to people from Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries (Mexico, Central and South America — minus Brazil). Latino, Latina or Latinx refers to people from Latin America. Some people think that the term Hispanic has a negative connotation because of its political history. The term Latino, Latina or Latinx is preferred by others because it expresses the culture from this area in a more unified way. Knowing the difference can make you aware if they express a preference between terms. If you want to learn more, here’s an article on the term Hispanic.
It’s relevant for employees worldwide
Hispanic Heritage Month is recognized in the US, but you can feature employees worldwide. Focus on how some of these traditions can be connected to global values and how employees from different areas can share about their culture and learn from different ones at the same time. Give employees a chance to connect to different personal experiences. If you want ideas on how to make your internal communications more inclusive, read this post.
If you’re looking for ideas on how to weave more DE&I into your internal comms content, Tribe can help.
