Come December, as a Canadian living in the United States, I typically get asked numerous times: “What’s the deal with Boxing Day?” In the spirit of giving, let me share the history and some suggestions on how to bring the charitable mindset of old forward to contemporary professional life.

Boxing Day, celebrated primarily in Commonwealth countries on December 26, began in Britain. It started with the best of intentions, then, perhaps unsurprisingly, it morphed over the centuries into a day for commercialism and sporting events.

But, before we get to how it’s celebrated today in the likes of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain, let’s go back to the Victorian era.

History of Boxing Day explained

There are several explanations for the name “Boxing Day.” One is that it refers to the poor in a community opening alms boxes placed in front of the churches the day after Christmas. Or that it refers to the boxes put out in churches to collect coins to support the community’s less fortunate. Another is that it refers to the practice of the well-to-do presenting boxes of leftovers to the servants and tradespeople who helped them host major Christmas shindigs the day before.

In one of the earliest recorded references to boxed gifts, English Parliamentarian Samuel Pepys wrote in his 1663 diary that he sent a messenger to his shoemaker to deliver “something to the boys’ box against Christmas.”

Further, Boxing Day was generally a day of rest for the employees who had to serve the upper crust on Christmas. Think Downtown Abbey’s upstairs giving the downstairs staff a vacation day as a special treat.

Boxing Day evolves

Through the ages, the traditions changed. Today, service people might also be given tips. Yet, the bonuses often come before Christmas Day. The same is true of any giving done to the less privileged in a community (for example, the giving of gifts from an Angel Tree at a local gym or school).

December 26 is also St. Stephen’s Day. If you’ve heard the song about “Good King Wenceslas” you’ve heard of Stephen. The first line is: “Good King Wenceslas looked out/on the feast of Stephen.” In the song, written in the midst of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1853, the King goes on to bring peasants food and fuel for their fires.

Well, St. Stephen is the patron saint of horses. This led to the day being commemorated more recently in countries such as England or Wales with horse races and other sporting events. While fox hunting was once common, the hunts were banned in England and Wales in 2005. Yet you might still find people playing rugby.

In my home and native land of Canada, people play a different kind of contact sport — Boxing Day shopping. It’s the equivalent of Black Friday (back when the sales were just on the one day and people lined up hours early to get the great deals).

In the United States, which does not celebrate Boxing Day, you’ll at least see people watching sports — generally football (the American kind). On the other side of the world, sports fans in Australia look forward to cricket being played in the Boxing Day Test.

Meanwhile, in England today it is also common to see people participating in a Boxing Day Dip. They dress up in costumes and plunge into the sea, often to raise funds for charity.

Encouraging the spirit of giving at work

Depending on where in the week Christmas lands, many businesses will give their employees December 26 off, which is certainly a way to mark Boxing Day.

But let’s talk more about the spirit behind the original day. That of appreciating others’ efforts and doing something to help the less fortunate. It’s something you can encourage among employees year round. Here are a few key ways to do so:

• Support employee philanthropy by matching money that people donate to causes through payroll deductions.
• Set up charitable spending accounts to help employees set aside pre-tax dollars for giving purposes.
• Sponsor volunteer days which organize your employees to offer hands-on assistance at local non-profits.
• Make work hours flexible enough that employees can volunteer during work hours.
• Enable skills-based volunteering by matching your people with non-profits that need support in marketing, design, accounting or other areas where you have talent.

Supporting employee giving and offering your teams an opportunity to contribute to causes they care about can benefit your organization in several ways. For one, you’re supporting employee engagement as you connect work with purpose and acts of kindness. Participating together in volunteer efforts can also increase employee morale and their sense of belonging. All this can help boost the company culture and foster a spirit of camaraderie and collaboration.

Learn more about how your employees feel about your organizational culture or survey them about how they would want to participate in philanthropical efforts. Sogolytics can help.