One-third of employers have seen clashes in the workplace about religion, and experts expect that number to rise. Training managers on ways to mediate conflicts as well as educating employees and supervisors on the issue is important.
Personal clashes about religion are not that uncommon in the workplace. Yet, most organizations do not have a policy addressing the issue.
That's according to a recent study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), which found that one-third of 278 employers surveyed worldwide have seen worker conflicts in the workplace linked to religion.
And even though personal friction over religious beliefs is not all that uncommon, nearly two-thirds of those companies say they do not have a written policy specifically addressing religious bias.
"I am definitely seeing more concerns, clashes and discrimination lawsuits surrounding religious issues in the workplace," says Joseph Beachboard, a partner in the Torrance, Calif., office of Ogletree Deakins.
"It's definitely more of a sensitive issue," he says. "People are also becoming more comfortable expressing religion at work."
At the same time, it seems clear many organizations are still unsure about how to handle religious differences at work, researchers say.
"Businesses must find ways to handle religious conflicts while allowing room for employees' spiritual needs," says Anne Lindberg, research analyst for the Seattle-based i4cp. "Effectively handling religious differences not only requires specific attention, but also creativity, empathy and fairness."
Georgette F. Bennett, president and founder of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding in New York, says she's not surprised that about 30 percent of surveyed employers reported religion-based clashes in their workplaces.
Such problems are going to get worse before they get better, she says. "The emergence of religion as a workplace issue is driven by powerful demographics that are not going abate any time soon.
"We can expect to see more of the types of clashes revealed by this [i4cp] survey -- until, that is, workplace training programs start to include the religious dimensions of diversity and until management starts to develop written policies on accommodation."
According to the survey respondents, just 12 percent of companies have a written definition of what is considered to be a "religious belief."
Few employers really understand what constitutes the definition of a religion, says Beachboard. It not only includes denominations and styles of worship, but also encompasses strongly held personal beliefs as well.
Perhaps because of this lack of clarity, most companies opt to handle disputes quietly and internally, researchers say.
More than half (56 percent) of the employers surveyed report they use in-house mediation to resolve religious disputes.
Managers should be wary of introducing their own biases when attempting to mediate conflicts, he says.
Supervisors need to "be very careful they're not favoring one party over the other; they could very easily be stepping into a discrimination lawsuit" when they think they're effectively helping, Beachboard says.
The best advice for HR leaders, Beachboard adds, is to get educated about the ever-broadening definitions of religion and reasonable accommodation, and to create written policies that include specific details and strong language about their support for all beliefs and faiths in the workplace, and the need to treat others with respect and dignity at all times.
Still, says David W. Miller, president of the Avondah Institute in Key Biscayne, Fla., employers shouldn't lose sight of the fact that sharing, or even arguing, one's religious views in the workplace can be a positive thing.
"The [i4cp] survey seems lacking in questions about the positive role of religion at work," says Miller. Some clashes, he adds, can be constructive. Some might be the result of "an area that management had ignored and did not have policies ... so it really becomes an issue of poor HR guidance and not a topical issue of religion causing clashes.
"The survey, while interesting, is looking for something negative," says Miller, whose organization is geared toward helping employees and business leaders balance the demands of their faiths with their work lives.
Like many such surveys, he says, "it only uses the term 'religion,' which today can have a pejorative ring to [it], unlike more neutral terms such as spirituality or faith" -- both of which can yield some very uplifting dialogue.
Other findings of the survey:
a) More than half (55 percent) of surveyed companies provide flexible scheduling to allow people to attend religious services, yet only 33 percent offer paid time off for religious holidays.
b) Three in 10 (31 percent) companies said that unsolicited sharing of religious views has been a problem in the workplace.
c) Thirteen percent said that, because of their religious beliefs, employees have refused to do certain work or associate with certain co-workers.
d) Six in 10 (61 percent) companies said they have made an accommodation for an employee, based on the worker's religious beliefs.
In 1999, a Tanenbaum survey found that 20 percent of respondents said they had been, or knew someone in their workplace who was, a victim of religious bias. Also in that survey, 66 percent of respondents said even if they were not personally affected, they saw indications of religious bias in the workplace.
"In the intervening eight years," says Bennett, "the percentage of religious-discrimination complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has skyrocketed. And, of course, the tragedy of 9/11 has raised tensions. The number of complaints by Muslims, and those who are mistaken for Muslims, has increased.
"But Christians are also feeling discriminated against -- especially when it comes to the clash between their beliefs and workplace-diversity policies that are inclusive of the *, *, bisexual and transgender community." This, she says, can also feed an emotionally charged workplace.
Deborah Weinstein, employment law professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia, cautions that a larger number of respondents would be needed to translate the i4cp survey results to the entire global corporate environment. Nevertheless, she agrees the results are hardly surprising.
"Accommodating religious beliefs and practices at work, and educating workers concerning respect for differences -- not only in religion, but in cases of national origin, disability, sex, age and race, too -- is highly challenging for businesses," says Weinstein, also president of The Weinstein Firm, a Philadelphia-based workforce legal and counseling consultancy.
"Educating everyone at work about religious tolerance, especially managers, is extremely important so they know how to handle requests for accommodation or conflicts around religious differences," she says. "But this isn't the only area of diversity that cries out for increased training," she adds, also noting the increase in harassment claims arising from national origin after 9/11.
Personal clashes about religion are not that uncommon in the workplace. Yet, most organizations do not have a policy addressing the issue.
That's according to a recent study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), which found that one-third of 278 employers surveyed worldwide have seen worker conflicts in the workplace linked to religion.
And even though personal friction over religious beliefs is not all that uncommon, nearly two-thirds of those companies say they do not have a written policy specifically addressing religious bias.
"I am definitely seeing more concerns, clashes and discrimination lawsuits surrounding religious issues in the workplace," says Joseph Beachboard, a partner in the Torrance, Calif., office of Ogletree Deakins.
"It's definitely more of a sensitive issue," he says. "People are also becoming more comfortable expressing religion at work."
At the same time, it seems clear many organizations are still unsure about how to handle religious differences at work, researchers say.
"Businesses must find ways to handle religious conflicts while allowing room for employees' spiritual needs," says Anne Lindberg, research analyst for the Seattle-based i4cp. "Effectively handling religious differences not only requires specific attention, but also creativity, empathy and fairness."
Georgette F. Bennett, president and founder of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding in New York, says she's not surprised that about 30 percent of surveyed employers reported religion-based clashes in their workplaces.
Such problems are going to get worse before they get better, she says. "The emergence of religion as a workplace issue is driven by powerful demographics that are not going abate any time soon.
"We can expect to see more of the types of clashes revealed by this [i4cp] survey -- until, that is, workplace training programs start to include the religious dimensions of diversity and until management starts to develop written policies on accommodation."
According to the survey respondents, just 12 percent of companies have a written definition of what is considered to be a "religious belief."
Few employers really understand what constitutes the definition of a religion, says Beachboard. It not only includes denominations and styles of worship, but also encompasses strongly held personal beliefs as well.
Perhaps because of this lack of clarity, most companies opt to handle disputes quietly and internally, researchers say.
More than half (56 percent) of the employers surveyed report they use in-house mediation to resolve religious disputes.
Managers should be wary of introducing their own biases when attempting to mediate conflicts, he says.
Supervisors need to "be very careful they're not favoring one party over the other; they could very easily be stepping into a discrimination lawsuit" when they think they're effectively helping, Beachboard says.
The best advice for HR leaders, Beachboard adds, is to get educated about the ever-broadening definitions of religion and reasonable accommodation, and to create written policies that include specific details and strong language about their support for all beliefs and faiths in the workplace, and the need to treat others with respect and dignity at all times.
Still, says David W. Miller, president of the Avondah Institute in Key Biscayne, Fla., employers shouldn't lose sight of the fact that sharing, or even arguing, one's religious views in the workplace can be a positive thing.
"The [i4cp] survey seems lacking in questions about the positive role of religion at work," says Miller. Some clashes, he adds, can be constructive. Some might be the result of "an area that management had ignored and did not have policies ... so it really becomes an issue of poor HR guidance and not a topical issue of religion causing clashes.
"The survey, while interesting, is looking for something negative," says Miller, whose organization is geared toward helping employees and business leaders balance the demands of their faiths with their work lives.
Like many such surveys, he says, "it only uses the term 'religion,' which today can have a pejorative ring to [it], unlike more neutral terms such as spirituality or faith" -- both of which can yield some very uplifting dialogue.
Other findings of the survey:
a) More than half (55 percent) of surveyed companies provide flexible scheduling to allow people to attend religious services, yet only 33 percent offer paid time off for religious holidays.
b) Three in 10 (31 percent) companies said that unsolicited sharing of religious views has been a problem in the workplace.
c) Thirteen percent said that, because of their religious beliefs, employees have refused to do certain work or associate with certain co-workers.
d) Six in 10 (61 percent) companies said they have made an accommodation for an employee, based on the worker's religious beliefs.
In 1999, a Tanenbaum survey found that 20 percent of respondents said they had been, or knew someone in their workplace who was, a victim of religious bias. Also in that survey, 66 percent of respondents said even if they were not personally affected, they saw indications of religious bias in the workplace.
"In the intervening eight years," says Bennett, "the percentage of religious-discrimination complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has skyrocketed. And, of course, the tragedy of 9/11 has raised tensions. The number of complaints by Muslims, and those who are mistaken for Muslims, has increased.
"But Christians are also feeling discriminated against -- especially when it comes to the clash between their beliefs and workplace-diversity policies that are inclusive of the *, *, bisexual and transgender community." This, she says, can also feed an emotionally charged workplace.
Deborah Weinstein, employment law professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia, cautions that a larger number of respondents would be needed to translate the i4cp survey results to the entire global corporate environment. Nevertheless, she agrees the results are hardly surprising.
"Accommodating religious beliefs and practices at work, and educating workers concerning respect for differences -- not only in religion, but in cases of national origin, disability, sex, age and race, too -- is highly challenging for businesses," says Weinstein, also president of The Weinstein Firm, a Philadelphia-based workforce legal and counseling consultancy.
"Educating everyone at work about religious tolerance, especially managers, is extremely important so they know how to handle requests for accommodation or conflicts around religious differences," she says. "But this isn't the only area of diversity that cries out for increased training," she adds, also noting the increase in harassment claims arising from national origin after 9/11.
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