Religion at Work

Описание: Managing religious differences requires balancing employee rights with legitimate business need. One’s religion is a choice, invisible unless disclosed, and sometimes changes over time. Religious beliefs are often held with strong conviction of correctness of one’s position and wrongness of others’ views. Ethnic background may be conflated with religion (e.g., Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus). Feelings intensified in the US following attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and perceived connections between religion and political views.

In 2012 for the first time, Protestants were fewer than half the adult US population (48%). Most of these changes have occurred since the 1990s, with almost one in five (18%) now reporting no religious affiliation. Typical workplace dilemmas include employer-imposed religious requirements affecting inclusion or decisions about hiring, retention, or promotion, dress policies that conflict with religious dress or grooming. Managers also deal with conflicts between work scheduling and religious observation.