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HR practiceLettersRelationships at work

Banning Christmas parties is political correctness gone mad

by Personnel Today 13 Dec 2005
by Personnel Today 13 Dec 2005

The whole business of banning Christmas parties for fear of offending non-Christians is now completely out of hand.

I have always enjoyed celebrating Christmas as an Asian born, raised and educated in the UK.

I work for a very inclusive, forward-thinking company, which recently asked me whether I found the concept of a Christmas party insulting. As an HR professional, I understand how important it is to take people’s religion into consideration – but within reason.

Of course, Christianity is not part of my culture in the same way that Hinduism is, but I’ve always loved everything about Christmas, from the lights to the trees to the parties.

The notion that I might find a workplace Christmas party insulting is just absurd. If I had a problem with it, I just wouldn’t go.

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My family always give each other small presents on Christmas Day and we always sit down to roast turkey. I appreciate many Asians may not want to mark Christmas in the same way, but I personally feel more British than Asian, having grown up here.

I still celebrate the traditional Hindu festivals like Diwali and see it as my choice to do so. But stopping Christmas parties is, in my opinion, political correctness gone mad.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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