March is the month to celebrate culture & diversity in your organisation. Some of these events are Mardi Gras on March 5, International Women's Day on March 8, St Patrick's Day on March 17 and Harmony Day on March 21. However, there are also plenty of opportunities to put Wellness back in focus with World Sleep Day on March 18 and International Day of Happiness on March 20.
There are a lot you can do in March, so pick and choose activities that would resonate with your team the most.
Read the full Admin Engagement Planner here.
For Perks of the Week posters and monthly promotional content you can share with the team, see them here.
Week 1: 28 Feb - 6 March
Kick off your Culture & Diversity Month
Admin to-do list:
Organise a Recognition Power Hour on Tuesday 1 Mar as it's World Compliment Day. If there's budget, allocate a reward for individuals who are doing the most recognitions and individuals who were recognised the most. Here's how to add a reward. Feel free to use email copy below.
Hi everyone
It's World Compliment Day today! What better day to give your team mates a shout-out for all the good stuff they've done?
To celebrate, we're going to do a Recognition Power Hour between 4 - 5pm today. Stop everything you're doing at that time and spend a few minutes recognising your team on Perkbox. Go to <companydomain>.perkbox.com/recognition
We'll be rewarding individuals who've put in the most effort in recognising their team members and individuals who were recognised the most. This means your recognition has to follow these rules to count:
- Personalised - not just by name by also what has this person done exactly that's worth recognising?
- Timely - it can't be work that was done 1 year ago, what has this person done recently that's been amazing?
- Specific - Be specific & be clear about what they've done. The more specific it is, the more recognition power it'll give
Have fun!
Cheers
<sender's name>
Revise your policies around diversity & inclusion. This also means different things to different people so run a survey to understand what your employees think about the current state of play and see what events are important to your team that are worth celebrating. A few survey question examples.
- What country were you born in? (country category)
- Do you speak other languages other than English? (name a few)
- What cultural events are important to you? (name a few)
- How long have you worked at <company>? (<1 year, 1-2 years, 2-3 years, 3-4 years, 5+ years)
On a score from 1 - 5, how much do you agree with the following statements (1 = Strongly disagree 5 = Strongly agree)
- At <company>, people are treated respectfully, regardless of their differences
- <company> work to attract, develop and retain people with diverse backgrounds
- I feel like I belong at <company>
- I can voice a contrary opinion without fear of negative consequences
- Perspectives like mine are included in decision making
- <company> believes that people can greatly improve their talents and abilities
- Administrative tasks that don’t have a specific owner are fairly divided
- People of different backgrounds interact well within <company>
- I see strong leadership support of the <company>’s value of diversity and inclusion
- I am comfortable talking about my background and cultural experiences with my colleagues
It's Mardi Gras on March 5 - see if you can find any inspirations from our special Mardi Gras culture calendar to celebrate your LGBTQ+ employees. Even better if you can rally their help to organise these activities.
Perks of the Week: If the team needs an outfit, they can save $10 from Costume Box.
Week 2: 7 - 13 March
Celebrate the women in your organisation for International Women's Day
Admin to-do list:
To celebrate IWD, teams can go in the draw to win a $200 Myer voucher for themselves and the woman they recognise. Team members have to use hashtag #IWD in their Celebration post in order to be entered into the draw. Competition opens from 4 - 11 March. Keep a lookout for the email that will be sent to your team.
Host a Ladies Lunch for IWD outside the office
Set up a celebration tag for 'IWD' so people can use them when recognising the awesome women in your team - here's how to create one
Shout out at least one outstanding woman from your workforce each day this week for IWD. Share this Celebration poster.
Run a Blinkist Book Club for IWD. We recommend 'Reset' by Ellen Pao. See our blog for tips on how to run a Blinkist Book Club.
Choose a few outstanding women (even better if they're in a senior or management level) and host a 'get to know you' session and invite the whole organisation. These sessions are often inspiring for many people in the organisation as they learn these women's journey, challenges and their thoughts on diversity & equality. Here are some questions you can ask your female leaders:
- Tell us a little bit about your professional journey...
- What is your “why”? How do you balance work and life responsibilities to fulfil it?
- Can you explain an initiative you've implemented that has made an impact in your workplace?
- As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career?
- What advice would you give to your younger self and for the next generation of female leaders?
Week 3: 14 - 20 March
Focus on Wellness
Admin to-do list:
March 18 is World's Sleep Day so highlight to the team the importance of good quality sleep for their mental health and wellbeing by promoting the sleep stories, music and webinars related to sleep on the Wellness Hub.
You can share this article and share this poster on Wellness Hub
We're also running a competition for a chance to win a $500 Sheridan voucher. Share the below poster.
March 20 is International Day of Happiness so encourage your team to visit the Wellness Hub (share this poster) for meditation and hypnosis sessions on:
Reducing anxiety such as a 15 mins Calm Anxiety with Breathwork or if they're pressed for time a 3 mins Let Go of Anxiety meditation
Gratitude such as an 8 mins Start Off with Morning Gratitude
Overcoming Perfectionism (24 mins) and Manage Anger Better (19 mins)
Week 4 - 5: 21 - 31 March
Q1 wrap up & sustainability
Where did the time go? End of March marks the end of the first quarter for the year. Wrap up the quarter with the following activities...
Admin to-do list:
Host an All-Hands meeting to wrap up the quarter. It's a great time to keep your team posted on business results, update and outlook for the next quarter.
Run a Q1 poll based on one or all of your company values. Here's how to run a poll. If you want more poll inspiration, check out out 52 poll ideas. Read out the recognitions and announce the winner in the All-Hands meeting.
If you didn't get around to sharing the Culture & Diversity survey results, take this opportunity to do so.
26 March is Earth Hour - promote Mindful Consumption perks to help save Earth and do our part in creating a sustainable world. Some Perks of the Week recommendation:
Zero Co (save $15) - deliver incredible personal-care and home-cleaning products direct to your door (minus all the single use plastic).
Plant & Prosper (save 15%) - All of their products are designed with the aim of eradicating single use plastics, minimising the rest, and with the additional reward of planting a tree to restore the earth.
Trace (1 month free) - Offset your carbon footprint