Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Question: Many of our employees have asked to celebrate their cultural holidays and prayers in the facility. Is there a way to allow this without offending everyone else?

Answer: While your first reaction may be to ban all religious and cultural observances in the workplace, you may reconsider finding a happy medium. Many U.S. employers are bringing a faith-friendly atmosphere back into the working world.

Employee requests to hold prayer breakfasts, form affinity groups, or ask for specific foods in the cafeteria are among the most common new developments stemming from the faith-at-work movement. If your facility doesn’t have a faith-at-work policy, here’s what you can do to make your workplace more faith friendly:

• Don’t shut out religion completely. Recognize that religion is the most important part of life for many people, so you shouldn’t demand that workers check their spirituality at the door. What’s more, offering a faith friendly atmosphere can actually help you achieve organizational goals. Strong morale and worker contentment often translates into higher productivity.
• Ensure equal treatment. For example, don’t allow one worker to post a notice for a Christian prayer meeting but then tell a Muslim worker that he can’t post a flyer for his Mosque’s upcoming services. Remain consistent regarding what you allow (or don’t allow) regarding faith-at-work to avoid getting yourself into discriminatory hot water.

Bottom line: To make this work, you must make sure that either everyone’s faith is represented — or no one’s is.