Islam in the Workplace

Prompt follow for HR personnel

Muslims now sort a single of the largest religious teams in the British isles. At a time when fantastic misunderstandings and stereotypes circulate the media and society about the religion, it is essential for an hard work to be produced at all ranges to go outside of archetypal images and to start out to understand Islam and Muslims.

With a populace of roughly 1.5 million Muslims and rising, United kingdom based mostly organizations are employing much more and additional youthful Muslim males and gals. With this maximize comes a higher will need for HR practitioners to be aware of the respective cultural sensitivities.

As with men and women from any track record, if they do not experience cozy and comprehended in their business office or enterprise, it is likely that they will finally request work elsewhere. In buy to maximise retention of younger Muslims, it is ever much more critical hence, that their sensitivities are saved in head.

The adhering to facts includes basic recommendations and pointers for HR workers and other people to bear in intellect. You should notice that these are extremely generic guidelines. Muslims vary from era to technology, lifestyle to society, some are far more devout than many others and interpretations and methods of the religion are various. It might also be the circumstance that the person is Muslim by name only and chooses not to observe their faith.

Prayer

A Muslim, both equally male and woman, is envisioned to pray 5 instances a working day. This prayer will involve going through Makkah (in Saudi Arabia), normally on a prayer mat or clear surface and reciting prayers which adhere to a technique of bowing and prostrating. This normally normally takes in between 5 – 15 minutes based on the personal. Prayer situations are calculated according to the movement of the sunlight and get spot at dawn, midday, late afternoon, dusk and at night time.

For Muslims in your company it is a very good concept to allocate a neutral room for them to use for their prayers. This can be a focused prayer area or basically entry to a seldom applied workplace or health care area. These kinds of a space will make your Muslim staff members truly feel at comfort being aware of they have somewhere personal and cleanse to say their prayers.

If team are necessary to be fully commited to a desk place at specified times it may possibly be a very good notion to agree on allotted periods in which they can read through their prayers. This might entail the use of break times.

Friday Prayers

Most Muslim males go to the mosque on Friday afternoons for compulsory congregational prayers. Enable your employees know you have an understanding of their needs and concur on an prolonged lunch break and/or allocate their Friday lunch breaks to effortless occasions. Most mosques perform prayers at 1.30 p.m. so check out to purpose for an hour between 1 – 2p.m.

Fasting

Fasting will take destinations in the course of the thirty day period of Ramadan. Ramadan does not correspond neatly to any Gregorian months due to its process of calculation. It variations from 12 months to yr by about ten times. The far more devout Muslims could also fast on Mondays and Thursdays in the course of the year.

Fasting requires abstinence from food, drink, chewing and smoking cigarettes from dawn until dusk. At dusk, Muslims ordinarily break their rapid with dates and drinking water prior to continuing to eat a food.

In the office it is very best to be knowledgeable of staff who are fasting as this avoids potential offence if the staff members member declines an invite to lunch or to some other perform involving meals.

Costume

Most Muslim males will be sporting a shirt and tie like their colleagues and very couple of would problem a dress code. This is only because costume is not an place in which strict rules exist in Islam.

A person spot Muslim guys may clash with business plan is in their donning of beards. If you have demanding guidelines relating to facial hair or stick to specified overall health and cleanliness methods, then it is intelligent to make sure that likely male Muslim staff are produced informed of these methods. You really should also be ready to both compromise on religious grounds or be certain that beard covers are built readily available.

Muslim women are needed to go over their hair (hijab) and to dress modestly. Numerous do neither but it is very best to be knowledgeable of the wants of those people who do. If your company has a uniform or a sure gown code be sure it permits the wearing of hijabs. Many businesses have now taken the action to give hijabs which match the organization uniform.

Holidays

Commonly Muslims in the British isles take holidays as and when they have to have to. There are even so a handful of dates of significance that must be pointed out.

Eid al-Fitr – this holiday getaway celebrates the finish of the thirty day period of Ramadan and fasting. It is typically a time when extended households congregate and provides provided to small children.

While this holiday extends more than a 3 day period, lots of Muslims generally just take a solitary working day vacation.

Eid al-Adha – celebrates the finish of the Hajj (pilgrimage) and commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son. In Muslim nations sheep, goats and camels and commonly sacrificed and the meat distributed the spouse and children, neighbourhood and the inadequate. In the Uk such meat is requested through a butcher because of to our rules.

As with Eid al-Fitr, Muslims normally acquire a solitary day getaway in the course of this period.

Socialising

One particular of the major discomforts for Muslims in the British place of work could include the socialising society of the business office. Usual business enterprise lifestyle includes following operate socializing in pubs or restaurants. As Muslims do not consume any liquor and spots this sort of as pubs, bars and discos are not considered ideal venues for rest, then Muslim personnel might politely drop such features.

This should really not be interpreted as negative manners of unfriendliness, but alternatively a difference in cultures that should really be respected. When setting up team creating outings or workouts or workforce outings usually bear in brain a Muslim member of personnel could truly feel not comfortable if the location is a pub, bar or even a cafe serving alcoholic beverages. It is generally most effective to examine with that staff member very first.

Try out to imagine of option venues where by all personnel will be relaxed.

Foods

There are selected constraints as to what a Muslim can/won’t be able to take in.

Meat ought to often be halal. Such meat has been slaughtered according to Islamic exercise. If halal meat can not be sourced then Muslims are authorized to take in Kosher meat far too. Pork is not eaten at all by Muslims.

Generally check substances of meals you prepare to share out or use in workers lunches. Foods not appropriate for vegetarians may perhaps comprise non-halal meat or meat derivatives (e.g. gelatine) and are unable to be eaten. In the same way, foods with alcohol articles must also be avoided.

An simple way to overcome any catering problems is to offer a vegetarian alternative.

Contact/Particular Space

There is an viewpoint amongst some Muslims that touching involving guys and females need to be prevented. Though not popular in the Uk, as compared with the Gulf, you might often appear throughout Muslim males and women of all ages who do not like to shake hands with members of the opposite sexual intercourse. If you are uncertain then it is recommended to hold out and see if they extend their arms initial.

Muslim males and gals may perhaps also find near private contact in between sexes extremely not comfortable. Except you know otherwise be sure to go away a superior deal of particular space.

As described in the introduction, these are wide pointers only and the diploma of aid from a enterprise / HR perspective will be totally dependent on the specific involved. Care should really be taken therefore not to presume the requires of a member of staff, but to simply just be knowledgeable of feasible issues and ensuing interventions if these develop into important.