Religion in the Workplace

1
Religion in the Workplace

• Nischint Manelkar
• Ben Kufuor
• Nina Highsmith
• Chun Lau

2
What is the Controversy?

• People are bringing their religious beliefs and
  practices into the workplace

3
How is Religion Brought into Work

• Wearing distinctive religious clothing or jewelry
  such as yarmulkes, turbans, and head scarves
• Engaging in religious discussions, group prayers,
  or bible studies during work day
• Bringing religious articles or books into office
  and discussing them with colleagues
• Asking for some time during the work day to
  fulfill ones religious obligations

4
Completely Legal

• Integrating religion into a work setting is
  protected by law
• Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
• 1st Amendment to U.S. Constitution

5
Individual Freedom

• Home away from Home
• Greater degree of comfort

6
Productivity and Motivation

• Greater worker satisfaction breeds enhanced
  productivity
• Employees become more motivated to work hard

7
Growth in Religious Diversity and What it Means
for Companies

• The number of different religions is growing at
  an exponential rate
• People with different
• religions will be
• working together

8
Acceptance and Toleration

• Promotes discourse between people of different
  faiths
• Increased toleration of a diverse work force

9
Federal Guidelines states that agencies

• should permit personal religious expression to
  the greatest extent possible, but workplace
  efficiency should not be sacrificed
• employees must be allowed to wear religious garb
  (such as a cross, yarmulke, or Muslim
  headcovering) as long as it does not pose a
  safety risks
• employees may discuss religion with other
  employees but must stop when an employee objects
• supervisor may speak to employees about religion,
  but not in a coercive way
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10
Discrepancies with the Guidelines

• Can be interpreted in multiple ways
• Arent specific
• Creates misunderstandings that lead to complaints
  
• As of 1991, religious discrimination complaints
  to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
  Commission (EEOC) have risen dramatically, up to
  50 and continues to increase each year.

11
Major Religions of the WorldRanked by Number of
Adherents
Top Twenty Religions in the United States, 2001

• Religion 2001 Est.
• Adult Pop.
• Christianity 159,030,000
• Nonreligious/Secular 27,539,000
• Judaism 2,831,000
• Islam 1,104,000
• Buddhism 1,082,000
• Agnostic 991,000
• Atheist 902,000
• Hinduism 766,000
• Unitarian Universalist 629,000
• Wiccan/Pagan/Druid 307,000
• Spiritualist 116,000
• Native American Religion 103,000
• Baha'I 84,000
• New Age 68,000
• Sikhism 57,000
• Scientology 55,000
• Humanist 49,000

12
How Religion Affects the Entire Company

• Provisions would be cost
• flexible scheduling specific religious
  food needs training of managers to become
  more aware of the different kinds of
  religions
• Exceptions built in for religious workers may
  affect their collective bargaining powers
• Most importantly, feel it might undermine their
  seniority

13

• Workplace ethics
• Discrimination defined
• The International Labour Organization (ILO)
  defines discrimination as any distinction,
  exclusion, or preference made on the basis of
  race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion,
  national extraction, or social origin which has
  the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of
  opportunity or treatment in employment or
  occupation
• Quote taken from an article in Business for
  Social Responsibility, Issues and Briefs, by
  the BSR staff

14

• The workplace is not a church
• Religion causes disturbances and distraction
• Religious discussions bring about discrimination

15

• The Model Work Environment
• Keep personal life separate
• Respect each other

16

• Conclusion
• What about atheists?
• Special considerations? IMPOSSIBLE
• Hardly ever a win-win situation
• Separate religion and work