Celebrate renewal and respect across cultures
Observing Lunar New Year in the Workplace Looking for a quick, actionable way to celebrate Lunar New Year at work? This post gives you a fast, DIY DEI tip you can apply right now.
Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, marks the beginning of the new year in the lunisolar calendar and is celebrated in many Asian communities around the world—including Chinese, Vietnamese (Tết), Korean (Seollal), and others. It typically falls between late January and mid-February.
This is a time for renewal, reunion, and respect for ancestors—but it’s also a chance for workplaces to honor the cultural traditions of Asian colleagues and clients without stereotypes or oversimplification. Here’s why that matters.
Why This Holiday Matters
In the Workplace, We Can Use Lunar New Year to Celebrate Without Stereotypes. This holiday isn’t about lucky envelopes or takeout menus—it’s about visibility, family, and cultural pride.
✅ It creates space for Asian employees to share their heritage on their terms.
✅ It combats erasure by uplifting regional differences, not collapsing them into one “Asian culture.”
✅ It helps challenge Western-centered calendars and assumptions about what holidays matter.
✅ It supports belonging for Asian employees—especially amid rising anti-Asian bias and invisibility.
Celebrating this day with care affirms identity and builds cross-cultural respect.
One Inclusive Celebration Idea
Try this inclusive activity to mark Lunar New Year at work:
Launch a “Lunar New Year Voices” Story Thread
Here’s how:
- Invite employees who celebrate to (voluntarily) share what Lunar New Year means to them—via photos, family traditions, or favorite memories.
- Use a shared Teams thread, Slack channel, or internal newsletter to spotlight their stories throughout the week.
- Include a short intro acknowledging the cultural range of celebrations—like Tết in Vietnam or Seollal in Korea—not just Chinese traditions.
- Avoid caricatures. Center lived experience.
This helps move your celebration from performative to personal—and reminds teams that inclusion is about listening, not labeling.
Ready to explore more workplace-ready tips? Keep reading.
Ready for More?
Would you like a more detailed celebration guide for this holiday?Join our Free Community Here Inside, you’ll find DIY DEI guides, a full diversity calendar, and practical tools to help you build an inclusive workplace—without overwhelm.
Pause & Reflect
How does your workplace make room for cultural traditions beyond the dominant calendar—and who benefits when it does?
