How to Celebrate and Honor Black History Month at Work

February is Black History Month in the US and October is Black History Month in the UK.

Read on to discover opportunities in which employers can demonstrate their commitments to diversity, inclusion, and equity in the workplace.

For many companies, heritage and awareness months are an opportunity for employee resources groups and HR teams to highlight employee contributions, provide networking opportunities, and plan memorable engagement programs.

February is Black History Month in the US and October is Black History Month in the UK, in which we acknowledge and celebrate the global achievements and impacts of Black individuals. It’s also an opportunity for employers to demonstrate their commitments to diversity, inclusion, and equity in the workplace.

This year’s theme for Black History Month, “Black Health and Wellness,” aims to explore how disparities within the American healthcare system have often underserved the African-American community. The theme calls attention to the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has shown widespread inequalities in healthcare and the lack of access to quality healthcare which has negatively impacted outcomes for Black populations and other minority communities.

When honoring Black History Month in 2022, February is a time to amplify Black voices, commit to transparency, and emphasize action.

Amplify Black Voices

Employees are the greatest resource and the best place to develop impactful programs. Black History Month is an opportunity to create employee-led events and elevate the voices of employees across different levels within the organization. In addition, celebrating across communities and creating events where resource groups collaborate and business units share stories of empowerment, brilliance, and resilience can unearth new insights and connections.

Commit to Transparency

When was the last time your organization shared an inclusion report or provided a snapshot of diversity within the company? Heritage months are an opportunity to follow-through with commitments leadership has made and review the organization’s plan to increase equity and representation.

Emphasize Action

Employers can also use heritage months to highlight how they do business within their community. They can expand vendor list to be inclusive of Black owned businesses and underrepresented entrepreneurs. In addition organizations can host volunteering opportunities with local nonprofits or select charities to contribute to within a given community or industry.

What’s Next?

In February, an ERG event calendar can be composed of multiple event types, such as panels, workshops, speaker series, networking events, conferences, volunteering opportunities, and more. As your organization celebrates Black History Month, keep employees involved and keep track of their participation. Utilize Everyspace to plan and host a range or events, manage employee communities, distribute communications, and measure employee involvement and sentiment all year round.

If you’re looking for ways to plan engagement programs for your internal communities, click here to learn more about our solution for Employee Resource Groups.

February is a short month and now is the perfect time to start planning meaningful ways to honor Black History Month at your organization. If you’ve been inspired, comment below with ways your company is planning to celebrate!

Everyspace, based in New York, NY, is an employee engagement & analytics platform used by HR, DEI, marketing, and product teams for its easy-to-use community and event management platform and on-demand reporting capabilities. Common use cases for Everyspace include internal communications, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), event and content distribution, and employee analytics. EverySpace provides a white-labeled platform with customizable interfaces, extensive analytical reporting, and deep integrations into existing technologies. To learn more, please visit https://everyspacehq.com/ and follow @EverySpaceHQ