Discrimination against religious employees is common in many workplaces, according to new research into religion at work which examined the experiences of 6,315 workers in the UK and the US.
The Religion at Work report from business psychology consultancy Pearn Kandola found that 47% of respondents did not feel comfortable discussing religious festivals they celebrate at work. The research included Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh employees.
Of more than 3,400 respondents who wore religious dress or symbols, 64% were not comfortable wearing them in the workplace with 38% saying their organisation could do more to be more inclusive of people of different faiths.
When it came to taking time off to celebrate religious holidays or festivals, one-fifth (19%) said they had had a request to take annual leave rejected.
When employees expressed their religious identity at work, nearly a third (32%) had a negative experience – including being the subject of mockery, exclusion, stereotyping and discrimination.
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The report’s author, Professor Binna Kandola, co-founder of Pearn Kandola, said: “It’s extremely disappointing to find that people of all faiths are likely to experience discrimination or have a negative experience at work.
“While organisations realise the benefits of developing diversity and inclusion strategies, many seem to be falling short when it comes to creating an open and inclusive environment for people of faith.”
There were also stark differences in how people of different faiths found requests for annual leave treated.
Christian respondents were more likely to find employers happy to allow annual leave requests for holy days – more than two-thirds (69%) – while only 25% of Hindu respondents agreed.
Nearly a third of Muslim respondents (31%) had felt requests for time off for religious holidays and festivals were rejected without good business reason, an experience shared by 25% of Sikhs, 23% of Hindus, 20% of Jews, 14% of Buddhists but only 2% of Christians.
“Businesses are not getting the best from their employees when they feel the need to conceal important parts of their life, such as religious beliefs,” added Kandola. “We hope the findings of this major report will be a wake-up call and prove a catalyst for organisations to take steps to improve the experience of people of faith.”
Across all religious groups, US employees were more likely to feel that their line manager was happy for them to take annual leave to celebrate religious festivals, with 53% agreeing compared to just 19% in the UK.
UK employees were more likely to have had a request to take annual leave to celebrate religious festivals rejected without a good business reason across all religious groups apart from Christianity. A quarter (27%) of UK respondents said they had had leave rejected, compared to just 12% in the US.
Pearn Kandola also polled a nationally representative sample of 2,000 British people to understand perceptions around religion, society, and work.
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It found that nearly 19% of people had witnessed someone being judged because of their religious beliefs in the workplace. The most common types of discrimination witnessed were religious colleagues being the butt of jokes (32%), being isolated or excluded from activities (23%), being denied annual leave for religious festivals (22%), being told not to wear religious clothing (22%), mocked for the food they eat (20%) or being asked to remove religious symbols (19%).
