Black History Month Email to Employees Examples [2023]
The only way to have a truly productive conversation about Black History and its importance is to educate all who are unsure and need additional explanation. To respectfully and successfully celebrate black history month in the office and recognize those employees who decide to celebrate it in its entirety, there needs to be a baseline understanding of what is consistent with Black History Month.
What is Black History Month?
To develop the basics, Black History Month takes place in February and lasts all month long to celebrate and recognize Black History. President Gerald Ford initially identified Black History Month in 1976, stating, "seize the opportunity to honor the too often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history." Black History Month originated as Negro History Week in 1917 by Carter G. Woodson, who is now officially recognized as the "father of black history ." His original hope was that Black History Month would eventually become unnecessary; unfortunately, with the way America is functioning, the hope of that is slowly diminishing.
Why does this need to be recognized in the workplace?
In the workplace, there have been historical occurrences of racism, discrimination, and unfair treatment of Black employees. This mentality has been persistent regardless of the efforts to be made. As the workplace continues to develop and grow in employment, it is essential to eradicate discrimination and bias. Therefore, there needs to be a conscious effort made to limit and be aware of the workplace environment. In addition, the recognition of celebrating employees of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds needs to be put into effect. Therefore recognizing and celebrating Black History Month in the workplace is a great way to achieve this goal.
Email Marketing Towards Employees during Black History Month Best Practices
Company-Wide Effort: The email needs to be a company effort, embracing the spirit of inclusivity. It is not the job of Black people to send out a campaign for recognition. Instead, it be transformative to have employees participating firsthand and learning about Black History Month.
Don't Single anybody out: It is essential not to assume that somebody would be interested in celebrating Black History Month solely due to their ethnic background. This is not a responsibility they must uphold in their workplace, as it can feel very targeted and individualized. For the best results when sending out an email, ensure it is inclusive to all your employees all year round.
Observe areas in which growth is applicable: If you are reading this article and are thinking that "I don't think we have a Black employee, " this is an opportunity to grow. If your brand or company lacks diversity or inclusion, now is the time to examine your approach in the recruiting and onboarding process. In most workplaces, there is a higher chance that employees want a more diverse workplace and to increase and expand inclusion.
Educate your employees: Send an email featuring an event where fellow employees can get educated. There is always something more to learn, so why not provide a safe place to do so:
Bring in a speaker: this is great to educate staff as you can bring in an author, historian, or activist to speak to employees and offer education on race relations, civil rights, or other critical topics.
Plan a Workshop: Workshops promote hands-on and critical thinking; this is perfect for encouraging a positive learning environment.
Acts of Service: Promote an event such as giving back via email to your employees.
Volunteer: gather your staff members and create an opportunity to volunteer at a local nonprofit or charity. This is a great way to help the community and bond with team members in hopes of sparking engagement and motivation. If choosing to volunteer, there is a much more powerful impact than just an email campaign about getting out and getting involved. Bringing the staff to a product that can create partnerships, long-lasting relationships, and experiences with your team is the best outcome.
Donate: If it is not practical to leave the workplace, then go ahead and push out an email campaign about a foundation your company has chosen to donate to for the month. Promoting and pulling resources together to give money also significantly impacts charities.
Reflect: As discussed above, Black History Month is a great time to reflect and see how diversity and inclusion are active in your workplace. Have an email campaign that asks people who are comfortable sharing their stories and send emails of the stories as features on employees who have felt the need to share their stories and how it can positively impact others.
Collaboration: If there is the opportunity to offer a safe place of cooperation in your workplace, then do so. You were using an email campaign to celebrate Black History Month by collaborating on ways to work for the company and improve the workplace.
Marketing During Black History Month Mistakes
There can be many mistakes made when marketing towards something as relevant as black history month. as workplaces are now beginning to take more action and hold themselves more accountable for inclusivity, a lot of fine-tuning needs to be done within these campaigns themselves. Companies interested in building inclusive workspaces can take advantage of the opportunities that Black History Month brings. Unfortunately, there are still so many companies that do not recognize and honor Black History Month that the companies that do need the recognition. Many mistakes can be made, so let's go through them and see how we can avoid them together.
Throwing something together at the last minute: when creating an email campaign, it is supposed to be a thoughtful, well-written, and well-organized push to educate somebody on either a new product or an upcoming release, but, in this case, an ethnicity. If you want to throw something together at the last minute, it runs the risk of sending the wrong message, as a message is the main form of communication within an email that gets your point across. Planning ahead of time on your Black History Month email's goal is ideal. Having a strategic plan for employee engagement, diversity and inclusion is a way to find success in this campaign.
Assume it is only for black employees: Black History Month festivities can involve specific events and opportunities for black employees at your company. This does not give you a chance to individualize the celebrations. The celebration of the culture and the history is why they are proud to be black in America; minimizing who gets to celebrate this is wrong. Suppose you are to leave out or neglect other races in the celebration of Black History Month. In that case, they are missing out on experiences and the opportunity to be involved in a conversation. Planning and delivering an email marketing campaign to your employees should not be the sole reason for making black people in your company feel special. It should instead offer an opportunity to express diversity and inclusion initiatives and be a reason that somebody learned something new.
Voices from those in the community: the company must receive feedback from black communities regarding how they celebrate and promote Black History Month in the office. There are a few ways that this can be done. The first is to discuss what the leaders do to understand how Black History Month was celebrated in the office and where they think they can grow and improve for next year. If there's room for growth and Improvement, something needs to be addressed. There's also the possibility of spotlighting black employees; allowing them to amplify their work and professional stories within an email can inspire others in the organization. There is the option of having a storytelling event where you can generate inclusivity by elevating the voices of the black community within your company. It is a great way to build a more inclusive workplace. And finally, you can recognize those who have stepped up in the company and been leaders. Whether planning events or just juggling life's everyday responsibilities, it is essential to remember those who go above and beyond.
Celebrating in public but not in private: This is a common mistake seen within corporations that may need to be more inclusive. Posting on their social media and sending out mass emails that appreciate black lives matter and celebrate it but not doing anything in their office to recognize those who have made accomplishments within their profession.
Not recognizing the black community: sparked the discussion about blackness. Being black in America has a much deeper story than is commonly discussed. Let's start by educating a few folks that just because somebody is Black does not make them African American. The assumption that black people in America are all the same is a very wrong and inconsiderate statement. Nobody has a shared story, meaning each employee has something specific they have lived through that another may never understand.
Only celebrating Black History Month: we've mentioned that inclusivity is paramount, but that means including all races. Making a workplace safe for all who identify is a massive part of inclusion. Many different holidays can be celebrated throughout the year that companies need to identify and bring to life. In this day and age, companies can see the benefits of having diversity in the workplace and work with their teams to celebrate the diversity within their community.
If possible, involve black-owned businesses: Black History Month creates the opportunity to celebrate the black community. Through celebration, companies and companies can turn around and benefit smaller brands. Send an email to all of the Black-owned businesses in your area and see who is willing to collaborate for the upcoming black history month. Before you know it, you may get feedback from restaurants, apparel, or a brand trying to create a voice. All of these are great ways to create campaigns within your workplace. Having the restaurant host an educational get-together during Black History Month is a great way to educate and promote somebody else's business. If they do apparel, trying to partner with them to get work-appropriate apparel sent out for February that celebrates and creates inclusion in the workplace is a fantastic idea. Finding a small business trying to get big and allowing them to host a booth within your company's headquarters for specific days out of that month is a great way to give back to those businesses trying to get a foot on the ground.
Time to Celebrate Black History in your Office
Now we have discussed how to send out emails in the workplace and how to celebrate Black History Month appropriately. But that does not mean once February 28th passes, the celebration of Black Culture needs to end. There has been a talk of the theory of being 'color blind,' which essentially is not being able to see the color of someone else's skin. This leads to an automatic racial bias; celebrating black employees for one month isn't enough. Hosting events around Black History Month is a fun way to harness the power of a diversified workplace that supports one another, but the company cannot be "colorblind." If you want to expand your email Horizon and start emailing February different ideas and campaigns involved in Black History Month, go ahead and check out the email software Mailsoftly. Not only is it very user-friendly, and it provides an excellent opportunity to be creative. But it's flexible and allows you to review your work before you send it out; Mailsoftly wants to help you honor Black History Month correctly in your workplace.
