Religious discrimination in the workplace is any workplace-related action that negatively challenges someone’s beliefs and practices based on their religion. It takes place when there’s a lack of religiously tolerant people in the workplace. The most common types are Christian Discrimination, Jew discrimination, and Muslim Discrimination. However, it also victimizes those who don’t associate themselves with any religion at all.
Even if there’s no official organization to protect someone’s religion, it does not justify mocking their beliefs. However, there are some strict religious discrimination laws that protect employees from discrimination against religion at work.
Harmful effects of Religious discrimination in the workplace:
- Stressed employees.
- Harassment claims.
- High work pressure.
- Lack of manager trust in the organization.
- High employee turnover.
- High workplace absenteeism.
- Low employee productivity.
Religious discrimination in the workplace examples:
- Hiring people based on their religion.
- Termination of an employee for taking leave on a religious holiday.
- Reassigning a Muslim employee away from customer relations to maintain a ‘comfortable setting’.
- Making fun of someone’s turban or burkha.
- Making offensive jokes against someone’s religion in the workplace.
- Forcing or constantly bugging a co-worker to convert or adapt to a different religion.
- Prohibiting someone from praying at work.
How to prevent Religious discrimination in the workplace:
- Have a strict anti-discriminatory policy in place.
- Fill your staff with people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds.
- Educate and train your staff about respecting all kinds of religions and beliefs.
- Implement Your Safe Hub in your organization for reporting purposes. It’s a secure and anonymous communication channel that protects your employees with the power of anonymity.
