Many people roll their eyes at designating certain days or months to honour various groups — women, Black history, Pride, First Nations, etc.
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But the fact is, there are sound reasons to hold such events, at least in terms of emergency preparedness in the workplace, even though they may not be readily apparent.
Take for example International Women’s Day, which was observed on March 8.
As one reader with a successful career asked me recently, “What is the point of a Women’s Day at my company? We already have everything the men have, and all our needs specific to being women are being met.”
This included, in her case, maternity/parental-leave benefits, free feminine hygiene products and an already positive workplace culture where no one is afraid of sexual harassment or assault.
Her conclusion was that too many people in society want to call attention to themselves in a “woe is me” kind of way, when their time would be better spent focusing on their jobs and doing them well.
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But there actually are good reasons for recognizing these days, and it ties to emergency planning and preparedness.
I am going to refer here to some of the jargon that is used in our industry to illustrate the point.
Typically, these policies are implemented through “living documents” that require regular updates known as “program/project maintenance.”
A successful “living document” is always changing so as not to become obsolete and “maintenance” is the method by which it is updated — typically once a year.
Recognized days for women, men, or any other demographic group serve as a good annual reminder to review existing employee plans, programs and projects to make sure they are still relevant in the workplace and up to date.
For example, perhaps a program was developed a decade ago to fix a problem that no longer exists.
If it’s outdated, why not discontinue it and invest the money saved into other aspects of growing the business?
Alternatively, perhaps the language and phrasing used in a program no longer resonates with staff and needs to be updated.
What about regulatory changes by governments that need to be addressed?
In general terms, for example, how can an organization know if its policies designed to assist female workers are working, unless it talks to its female employees about them?
A month every year devoted to some demographic group in the workplace may well be too much — after all, the work still has to be done.
But what about a day or half day once a year that focuses on policies designed for female workers?
Most organizations can afford that amount of time to devote to updating or maintaining their policies in this area.
If an organization wants to attract the best people for its jobs, it’s a good idea to be thinking about what unique needs they may have and how the business can best address them on an ongoing basis.
This process is useful even for checking in with employees who say everything is fine and that they’re happy with their workplace.
Devoting one day a year to making sure that a positive relationship continues is always a wise decision for an employer.
This isn’t about identity politics. It’s really just common sense.
— Alex Vezina is the CEO of Prepared Canada Corp., teaches disaster and emergency management at York University and is the author of Continuity 101. He can be reached at info@prepared.ca.
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