Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time to observe civil-rights milestones and reflect on next steps. What best practices do top companies use to align this holiday with diversity-management strategies And how important is it to make the day a holiday
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which falls on the third Monday of January, is a federal holiday around the time of Dr. King’s Jan. 15 birthday. It was declared a federal holiday in 1986 and is now observed in all 50 states, with South Carolina the last to adopt it, in 2000. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, about a third of private employers now give employees the day off. A questionnaire sent to the 587 participants in the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 survey found that 61 percent close their officesand all but two of the companies on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 list are closed.
- 96 percent of the companies in the survey observe the holiday in some way.
- 65 percent of the companies that close also plan additional events and volunteer efforts for employees.
- 91 percent of the participants that stay open plan additional events and volunteer efforts for employees.
In addition to office closures, the responses show that companies rely on four strategies to commemorate MLK Day: Volunteerism, Resource Groups, Events and Corporate Communications. Below, we share best practices from more than 20 companies.
