Top Tips for Incorporating Multicultural Services in a Funeral Home
Over the last couple of decades, Australia has rapidly grown to become a cosmopolitan country. Today, you can find people from different cultures and countries residing in Australia thanks to the government's strict but flexible immigration policy. Australia's cultural diversity offers an excellent business opportunity for funeral homes, but only if you incorporate the ethnicities in your funeral services menu. Unlike catering to one or two cultural or religious groups, offering multicultural funeral services widens your customer base significantly. Therefore, if you are thinking about offering multicultural funeral services, here is a guide to achieving the target.
Localise Multicultural Funeral Services
As mentioned earlier, Australia is one of the most culturally diverse countries globally. You can easily find people from Asia, Africa, and Europe settled, working, and raising families in the country. Therefore, if you consider incorporating multicultural funeral services in your facility, you should assess the cultures within and around your local boundaries. For instance, if there are many Asians and Africans in your community, you should incorporate the two ethnicities in your services. On the other hand, incorporating cultures not well represented in your local community does not make sense since you will be hard-pressed to find clients. Therefore, conduct research and determine the prevalent cultures in your community before adjusting your funeral services menu.
Communicate With Cultural Leaders
It is one thing to adjust a funeral services menu to include four or more cultures and another to implement the services. Although you can find books and other materials on conducting funeral services for a particular culture, you still need guidance from cultural leaders. In this regard, funeral directors should strive to communicate and collaborate with local cultural leaders to ensure that funeral services are in line with the norms. The last thing you want as a funeral director is to arrange a funeral service only to be told that an aspect of your service disrespected the deceased. Most importantly, maintaining a close relationship with cultural leaders ensures you conduct funeral services with decorum.
Undesignated Facility
Funeral homes that offer Christian funeral services have a chapel, while those providing Islam funeral services have a mosque. The structures are characteristic of the said religions, making it challenging to incorporate other cultures and burial practices. Thus, any funeral home that incorporates different cultures in its services should have an undesignated facility. If you do not label a funeral home facility, it becomes easy for clients from different cultural backgrounds to use it.
For more information on multicultural funerals, such as Asian funerals, contact a funeral home in your area that provides these services.