"An individual mentioned that certain phrases made them uncomfortable, which allowed others to be more mindful of their vocabulary choices moving forward." This is far from surprising because "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" works only when people share the same culture. All cultures share fairly identical values as to how people should treat one another, but courtesies in one culture may be inadvertantly offensive in another. 

I read a few case studies in which this happened. Giving somebody a gift wrapped in white paper would not be noticed in Europe or North America, but it is considered unlucky in Asian countries where white as opposed to black is associated with death and funerals. Golf is popular in Japan but a company lost sales when it offered four golf balls for the price of three; the Chinese and Japanese character for four (shi) is also the phonetic for death. There are some countries in which the OK gesture, which signifies approval in the United States, is an obscene gesture and the same goes for thumbs up. https://www.businessinsider.com/hand-gestures-offensive-different-count… There are countries in which one nods for no and shakes one's head for yes.

On the other hand, all cats (including black ones) are considered lucky in Asia. While snakes are disfavored in North America, and "snake" is used as a pejorative, nagas (snakes) are often considered benevolent in India. 

There was a purported story in which a French visitor to the US was offended when he asked a police officer if the latter could give him directions, and the officer replied "You bet!" "Bete" is French for beast so the visitor thought the officer was calling him this for no reason.

This suggests that it is very important to investigate, before one takes offense, what the other person really means if he or she is from another country. It's also important to keep track of holidays so one does not schedule an important meeting on a day that it is mandatory for somebody to take off, and also to make sure food meets the dietary requirements of everybody as pointed out by Rudyard Kipling in The Mother-Lodge. The Masonic Lodge of which he was a member included a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, and a Catholic which pretty much ruled out pork or beef, and possibly any kind of meat on Fridays.

For monthly, after Labour,

We'd all sit down and smoke

(We dursn't give no banquets,

Lest a Brother's caste were broke),

This is an extremely important consideration in planning meals for any kind of conference in which people from different cultures will be present.