How to Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month in the Workplace (and Beyond)

Since 1988, National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is September 15 to October 15, has been a celebration of the accomplishments of people in Latinx and Hispanic-American communities. In the workplace, this is an excellent opportunity to advance your dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion by joining the celebration and allowing your Hispanic and Latinx workers to share their culture with colleagues. If you’re not sure how to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month in the workplace, the following are some suggestions that can help. Some of them are fun, some of them are educational, and some of them can help you achieve your DEI goals. No matter which activities you choose, all of them will benefit your entire workplace.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month can help your workers learn and share together, thus promoting belonging in your organization. These activities are a great place to start.

1. Host a Trivia Game

What’s not to love about trivia? By hosting a trivia game with questions about notable Hispanic figures, history, and cultural movements in these communities, your employees can learn something new and have a great bonding experience with each other.

2. Create an Employee Resource Group

If your organization doesn’t have an employee resource group, or ERG, for Hispanic workers, now is the time to start one. ERGs allow workers from specific communities to support each other as they discuss their unique needs within the company. In addition, the ERG may have a member of your management team attend the meetings, so employee concerns can be addressed at the executive level in order to make change that will create a more inclusive workplace.

3. Launch a Book Club

National Hispanic Heritage Month can be used as an opportunity to launch a book club and spend time working through a reading list of different Hispanic authors. If you don't have a book club, you can kick one off this month with Hispanic-themed works, and then keep it going throughout the year as a celebration of various cultures that make up your workplace community.

4. Schedule Educational Activities

There are numerous educational activities you can plan during National Hispanic Heritage Month that will help workers learn about history and culture they may not have heard before. You can bring in guest speakers to give presentations during team lunches, arrange to have meetings where your Hispanic and Latinx workers talk about their cultural backgrounds and families or plan a movie night so employees can get together to watch documentaries related to different areas of Hispanic history.

5. Promote Pay Parity

In an effort to become a more equitable company, use this time as a way to examine the pay parity in your organization and ensure that all workers are being compensated fairly. Do pay audits to find out where there are shortfalls in employee compensation, and work toward filling those gaps—which will go a long way toward showing appreciation for all of the different communities within your organization.

6. Participate in Classes

Do some of your employees want to learn how to speak Spanish, cook authentic Hispanic and Latin food, or participate in Spanish-style dancing? These are just a few examples of classes you can organize for your company in order to teach everyone about Hispanic culture in an enjoyable way. You can find an instructor to come to your organization or sign everyone up for classes conducted in the community.

7. Contribute to Hispanic Community Organizations

Chances are, your area has organizations that cater to the Hispanic community in some way. If you organize volunteer days for your staff, you can spend those days at one of these organizations this month. In addition, making a donation to an organization will effectively signal to the community that you support diverse groups and you put your money where your diversity statement is.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is a chance to recognize the accomplishments of people in Hispanic and Latinx communities while appreciating their cultures. These activities can help you celebrate this month as you increase the sense of belonging your Hispanic and Latinx employees feel, thus making your work environment more inclusive.