I work for a company that embraces diversity, but I think they went about it the wrong way with one of their Christmas parties. Several years ago they had one with a Japanese theme.

I, along with my colleagues of Asian descent, were uncomfortable with the idea as we felt it would lead to cultural appropriation and people from other backgrounds mocking our traditions. And that did happen; people walked around with chopsticks in their hair and white face paint, pretending to be geishas. It was humiliating and embarrassing.

We ended up walking out in disgust, but what should we have done to address this with the organiser and HR in case this happens again?

I asked Dr Raymond Trau, a senior lecturer at Macquarie University and currently a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, about your question. Much of his research concentrates on workplaces, and he has studied discrimination and stigmatisation, among many other subjects, in detail.

He told me that cultural celebrations in the workplace are important and, when done well, have numerous benefits.

“Cultural celebrations at work can play a critical role in fostering an inclusive and welcoming workplace environment by acknowledging employees’ diverse backgrounds and providing opportunities for employees belonging to a culture group to share their unique experiences and bring their authentic selves to work,” he says.

“These celebrations also offer organisations a valuable opportunity to demonstrate that their diversity, equity and inclusion values are not just principles but are actively put into practice.”

Trau acknowledged that such celebrations don’t always go as planned or as hoped. And sometimes they are so poorly thought out that they deeply insult people. The Christmas party you’ve described sounds like one of those, and I’m not surprised you walked away.

“It is unfortunate that, in some instances, cultural celebrations can be uncomfortable or offensive to some employees for the reasons you mentioned,” Trau says.