Mediating Religion Collisions in the Workplace

A Podcast with i4cp researcher, Anne Lindberg

Mediating Religion Collisions in the Workplace is the topic of our TrendWatcher interview this week - in association with i4cp - the Institute for Corporate Productivity. This is Peter Clayton reporting. TPR has formed a strategic alliance with i4cp, allowing us to publish on our site the compete weekly research report in their TrendWatcher initiative, as well as record a weekly interview with the lead author of the article. Joining us today from St Petersburg, FL, is Anne Lindberg, a member of i4cp’s research team. Anne is the lead author of the article titled Mediating Religion Collisions in the Workplace.

 TrendWatcher examines the business and social trends that are likely to influence the future of work.

Questions Peter Clayton asked Anne Lindberg 

Quoting from your article: corporations are displaying "an increasing recognition that religion is the next big issue to deal with in terms of the diversity field and an increasing recognition that they need to be given tools for handling it" Can you give us some perspective from your research?

How common is religious worship in the workplace?

Is the expression of religious faith at work protected by law?

When is religion in the workplace illegal?

Are companies trying to accommodate different religious groups?

In 2001, the Ford Motor Company started the Ford Interfaith Network, an organization for employees that has members in eight major religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Has this kind of practice become commonplace in large organizations?

Muslims in particular, have been discriminated against in the US in the post 9-11- especially those who wear turbans. What kind of impact does religious beliefs that require specific clothing, or other outward appearances have in the workplace?

Should you tell colleagues how you feel about their religious practices at work?

What if you're religious and the behavior of nonreligious colleagues offends you? Can you do anything about it?

What advice would you give HR mangers dealing with these issues?

What resources did you find that can assist with issues around religion in the workplace?

Article: 

Given human nature, conflict is inevitable. When that conflict enters the workplace, HR leaders can get caught in the middle, trying to calm troubled waters.

If the dispute is really serious, HR leaders and other managers might have to be as adroit and tactful as members of a UN peacekeeping force trying to head off open warfare. Among the job issues that often demand the most tact are those that revolve around religious beliefs.

When it comes to religion in the U.S., the believers are in the majority. A 2006 survey conducted at Baylor University found that almost everyone - 92% of those who were asked - said they believe in a "personal God: that is, a God with a distinct set of character traits" (Henig, 2007). Another poll, a year later, found almost exactly the same results. Of those who answered that second poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Newsweek magazine, 91% said they believe in God (Braiker, 2007).

But the general agreement stops there. Individual beliefs, manifested by membership in a particular denomination or religion, are in constant flux (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2008). And there seems to be a continual splintering, evolution and/or individualization of belief systems. The largest growth in demographic groups is among those who do not identify with any one sect or denomination (Pew Forum, 2008). Among those, there's a subset loosely called "anti-religionists," who are atheists, agnostics, skeptics and those who have developed their own beliefs (Mays, 2007).

Small wonder then that religious issues are affecting the workforce, causing commentators like Georgette Bennett, president and founder of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, to point out that corporations are displaying "an increasing recognition that religion is the next big issue to deal with in terms of the diversity field and an increasing recognition that they need to be given tools for handling it" (Cole, 2007). Attorney John Fletcher (2007) with Fletcher & Phillips agrees that "religion has begun playing a major role in employee relations."

So far, most companies have not had to deal with outright claims of religious bias, according to a 2008 i4cp survey of 278 organizations. Nonetheless, the number of firms dealing with such claims has risen in recent years, as data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) illustrates. Complaints of religious discrimination filed with the EEOC reached a 10-year high in the 2007 fiscal year, with 2,880 complaints being filed. Not only is the number of claims increasing, the monetary compensation for those complaints is also going up, reaching a total of about $6.4 million during the 2006-07 fiscal year, which is about $700,000 (12.2%) more than the preceding fiscal year. Those sums did not include damages recovered as the result of lawsuits (USEEOC, 2008b). At the same time, many companies are aware that they need to accommodate religious beliefs in the U.S. Sixty-one percent of respondents to the i4cp survey said their organization has had to make adjustments for an employee based on his or her religious beliefs.

The EEOC has seen relatively few filings claiming religious discrimination when compared with other forms of bias, but the relatively low rate of such filings does not tell the whole story, especially when it comes to on-the-job clashes. About a third of organizations responding to the i4cp survey said their organization has experienced "an instance where there was some sort of personal clash linked to religious beliefs," and nearly as many respondents (31%) said that "unsolicited sharing of religious views" has been a problem in their workplace. Some organizations (13%) even reported that someone in their company has refused to perform work or associate with other workers because of religious beliefs.

In the U.S., HR leaders who are looking for guidance in handling these religious disputes won't get much from Congress. Congress is allowing the courts to draw a line between one person's right to express religious beliefs and another's to be free from having to hear about those beliefs. That line varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction (Knowledge@Wharton, 2007; Starr & Wilson, 2007). That leaves HR in the unenviable position of trying to resolve disputes that involve clashing civil and constitutional rights.

The Alexander Hamilton Institute's Legal Resource Center created a tipsheet to help HR leaders cope. Among the suggestions for preventing harassment: Pay attention to subtle forms of bias or harassment, including "exclusion from group activities," humor that's inappropriate, or the snubbing of workers who are members of protected classes. Employers should also discourage employees from engaging in debates about religion, politics, or other potentially hot topics while on the job (Employment Law Resource Center, 2008).

The EEOC has also provided some tips: "Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices - except to the extent a religious accommodation is warranted. ... Employees cannot be forced to participate - or not participate - in a religious activity as a condition of employment. ... An employer is not required to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer's legitimate business interests" (USEEOC, 2008b).

The i4cp survey suggests that organizations use a number of specific practices to address religious diversity issues. Fifty-five percent provide scheduling flexibility to allow people to attend religious services, 33% provide paid time off for religious holidays, 29% train managers in how to avoid religious bias in their decision-making, 17% incorporate religious diversity into company-wide diversity training, and 13% provide different food choices in cafeterias. Less common are other practices such as providing prayer rooms, having guidelines for affinity groups that meet on the organization's premises and allowing clergy to counsel in the workplace (Institute for Corporate Productivity, 2008).

But HR professionals and other managers should keep in mind that things are more in flux in regard to religion than in regard to other discrimination-related issues. Religious-based conflicts might increase or decrease in the near future, depending on various social and workforce trends. Until it's all figured out, managers must use their best judgment as workplace peacekeepers and treaty makers.

Documents referenced in this TrendWatcher include the following:
• Braiker, B. (2007, March 31). Newsweek poll: 90% believe in God. Newsweek - MSNBC.
• Cole, Y. (n.d.). 6 years after Sept. 11, Muslims see more inclusive workplace. DiversityInc. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
• Employment Law Resource Center. (n.d.). Harassment protection tipsheet. Retrieved May 10, 2008.
• Fletcher, J. (2007, October/November). That old time religion. Hospitality Labor Letter. Retrieved from www.laborlawyers.com.
• Henig, R. M. (2007, March 4). Darwin's God. New York Times Magazine.
• Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2008, April). Taking the pulse: Religious discrimination.
• Knowledge@Wharton. (2007, January 24). Toppling a taboo: Businesses go "faith-friendly."
• Mays, R. (2007, September 21). God's warriors and the anti-religious movement. Sun-Times.
• Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (2008, February 25). "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey."
• Starr, M., & Wilson, C. (2007, January 5). Workplace proselytizing: A cross employers may have to bear. The National Law Journal.
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2008a, March 4). Religious discrimination.
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2008b, February 26). Religion-based charges FY 1997 - FY 2007.

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