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Religion in the Workplace
June 2009
 Practicing
Diversity & Inclusion principles in the workplace often asks
managers and employees to be flexible in their approach when
interacting with people different from themselves. In most
cases, people will rise to the challenge of addressing their own
prejudices or stereotypes while being open-minded to different
values, lifestyles, and cultures.
Distinctions based on religion, on the other hand, can pose more
of a challenge, partly because religious beliefs define how a
person chooses to live their life. These distinctions may even
define what one holds to be the absolute truth. So, when
differences arise in the workplace concerning such strong
beliefs, people can be much less flexible in their approach.
However, it has never been as critical as in today's global
marketplace for all of us to respect religious differences. You
see, for many employees, faith can be a source of work ethic,
problem solving skills, and guidance during "tough times" in the
workplace. Religion can also boost morale. But equally as
important is the tremendous shift in religion occurring
throughout the United States.
Did you know…*
- Americans have become an increasingly religious people:
Since 1900, the nation's church membership has grown twice
as fast as the population.
- Religious discrimination charges in the workplace jumped
43% throughout the 1990's, and have more than doubled since
then. In Fiscal Year 2008, the EEOC resolved 2,727 of 3,273
religious discrimination charges and recovered $7.5 million
in monetary benefits for charging parties and other
aggrieved individuals.
- The percentage of Christians in the U.S. declined from
86.2% in the 1990's to 76%. Hindus, Muslims, and Orthodox
Christians have the largest immigrant representation, while
members of Christian traditions are predominantly
native-born.
- More than one-quarter – 28% – of Americans have left the
religious affiliation of their childhood. Buddhists,
Jehovah's Witnesses and followers of other faiths (including
Unitarian, New Age, and Native American religions) gained
the greatest percentages from those who changed childhood
affiliation; Hinduism, Catholicism and Judaism gained the
fewest adherents from this group.
And,
- The percentage of Americans claiming no religion jumped
from 8.2% in 1990 to 15%. 69.5% of Americans say there is
“definitely a personal god.” About 12.1% professed belief in
a “higher power” but not a personal god. Only 2.3% of
respondents denied the existence of God, while about 10%
professed uncertainty or said there was no way to know if
God exists.
* According to a survey
conducted in 2007 by The Pew Forum on Religious & Public
Life, a 2008 study titled The American Religious
Identification Survey conducted by the Program on Public
Values at Trinity College, and current statistics provided
by the EEOC.
Religious understanding helps attract and retain talented
employees while enabling companies to reach out to a larger
customer base. But with religious distinctions in the U.S.
shifting as illustrated in the above facts, along with the
increasing presence of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other
groups, many organizations can find it difficult to promote
a fair and inclusive environment for religions outside the
traditional Christian “majority.” However, despite our busy
everyday workloads, as managers and supervisors, we can all
leverage religious distinctions to better serve our
employees and today's diverse marketplace by following ten
easy tips:
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Tip #1: |
A respectful approach
can go a long way toward leveraging religious
distinctions in
the workplace. As a sign of respect, and to help
understand the viewpoints and values other religions
might have, try to become familiar with the
fundamentals of today's major religions.
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Tip #2: |
Be aware of your own
values, beliefs and any prejudices that may shape
the way you act and react to new situations and
experiences.
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Tip #3: |
Be sure to create and
emphasize a written policy on religious expression
in the workplace. This simple action can help
reduce the perception of bias. Religion is usually
cited in workplace anti-discrimination policies, but
only 4% of companies have specific policies on
religion.
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Tip #4: |
Provide flexibility to
company policy or procedures, if feasible.
Accommodating for religious holidays may involve as
little as posting a bulletin board notice asking for
an employee to volunteer to switch shifts. Flexible
arrival and departure times, flexible work breaks,
granting optional or floating "personal days,"
exchanging lunchtime for early departure time and
creating staggered work schedules may also be
effective solutions. Progressive companies have also
found success in providing additional considerations
such as modifying cafeteria food to meet religious
dietary restrictions and by providing spaces for
prayer or meditation.
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Tip #5: |
Make reasonable efforts
to accommodate employees' religious expression but
be clear that your primary concern is achieving
business objectives. Safety should
always take precedence. For example, if religious items or
apparel pose a serious risk of getting tangled in
heavy machinery, they should be banned. If they do
not pose a risk of injury or cause other legitimate
business risks, you should lean toward accommodation
whenever possible.
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Tip #6: |
Illustrate to employees
that they may express their religious views - provided
that doing so does not impose on the religious
beliefs of others.
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Tip #7: |
Issues involving
religious discrimination can't be eliminated, but
fair treatment and expressions of concern by
employers can go a long way toward improving
employee relations and minimizing the risk of claims
of unfair treatment.
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Tip #8: |
Promote and post all
local, federal and organizational laws - primarily
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII
prohibits private employers from discriminating on
several bases, including race, color, religion,
gender, or national origin. Various state laws also
prevent discrimination. The courts have recognized
various forms of prohibited discrimination,
including disparate treatment, disparate impact, and
a hostile environment.
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Tip #9: |
Consider religion-based
employee networking groups, also called religious
affinity groups. Companies such as American Express,
Fannie Mae, and IBM have been quite successful in
creating discussion panels and events.
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Tip #10: |
Utilize employee
religious knowledge to avoid making mistakes and to
better improve the overall understanding of these
religions and how they might impact your
organization. An easy way to accomplish this if you
don't have a religion-based employee network group
is to hold pre-scripted and pre-approved discussions
during scheduled team meetings. |
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Overall, we need to recognize
that a “faith-friendly” environment will never have a
“one-size fits all” approach. Because of this, you will need
to evaluate your own corporate culture to determine the best
approach to leveraging religion in the workplace.
This topic and more can be found within our Diversity and Inclusion e-learning
product.
To request more information or for a no-obligation trial of our
products, please email
info@knowledgestart.com or call
toll-free 877.650.0454.
Who We Are
KnowledgeStart is an employee development company which, for the past seven
years, has specialized in online training for its U.S. and global clients.
We are a leading provider of award-winning e-learning programs and platforms
that maximize learning, increase collaboration and retention, and improve
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enhancing organizational and individual productivity in topics such as
Diversity and Inclusion,
Generational Differences,
Harassment Prevention,
Business Ethics, and
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KnowledgeStart understands that every decision made by your employees eventually
crosses someone's path somehow and can often have a "ripple effect" across your
entire organization. Even the smallest of decisions can have a BIG impact on
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Through this understanding and our collective skill sets and experiences with
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