Diversity employers find learning to make room for faith at work difficult

The US workplace has changed dramatically over the past four decades. Women now make up nearly 50 percent of the workforce, the number of diversity employees is consistently increasing, and the number of international diversity employees continues to increase as well.

As such, workplaces throughout the United States are filled with an increasing number of individuals of various faiths and methods of worship. More employees want to bring their “whole self” (which includes their religious beliefs) to work, so employers are now struggling with and learning how to create a workplace that is comfortable and welcoming for employees of all faiths, as well as for those who are of no faith.

This struggle is particularly evident in workplaces where there are Muslims, as their religion (Islam) requires that they pray many times during the day in a designated place and may also require women to dress modestly and wear a headscarf. This is fairly common among other religions as well as they too require their members to dress differently (usually more conservatively) than what is the generally accepted norm in the US workplace. Many religions also have dietary restrictions which can affect company get-togethers, company parties and events, and even the use of the company refrigerator.

With so many different religions and tenets for companies to keep track of, learning to effectively and equitably accommodate the religious beliefs and habits of their employees can be difficult.

But the honest truth is that in order for companies to attract diverse candidates, they are going to have to learn how to accommodate the whole diversity employee, which includes accepting his beliefs and making accommodations for him to engage in his sacred religious rites, even if he must periodically stop working for short periods of time during the workday to do so.

I’m sure that some employers may feel that they are being coerced by a new breed of empowered diversity employees to accept and accommodate their religious beliefs. But truth be told, legally they don’t exactly have to accommodate every belief and religious rite in their workplaces.

Which begs the question, should employers be forced to accommodate religious beliefs in the workplace? I'll answer that one in my next post.