Believe it or not, seemingly innocuous workplace birthday celebrations have spawned lawsuits about age, and religious discrimination.
If you want to have a workplace birthday celebration don’t:
- have a policy of recognizing birthdays if you are going to inconsistent. By celebrating some birthdays and not others may hurt employee morale
- point out that someone’s having a birthday via email or other public forums without first asking if the person is comfortable with it
- publicize the year of someone’s birth
- arrange for a cake or birthday song without first asking if the person is comfortable with it, not everyone wants their birthday celebrated
- pressure employees to contribute money to a birthday gift or attend a birthday lunch
If an employee agrees to a birthday celebrations do:
- Send electronic birthday cards
- Surprise with decorations at the employee’s desk
- Take the birthday person to lunch
- Make a contribution to the charity of the employee’s choosing
- Monthly celebrations, perhaps with a cake, that acknowledges all workers born in that month
https://shrm.org, “To Celebrate Birthdays at Work or Not?” Dana Wilkie, February 6, 2015