Ramadan and the workplace - a guide for human resources

By Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B., Managing Editor at HRinfodesk.com---Canadian Payroll and Employment Law News, September 2007

To raise some awareness on Muslims, Islam and the month of Ramadan, Kwintessential a cross cultural communication training provider has released a free guide on Ramadan for human resources professionals and those who manage personnel. The guide offers employers a summary of the main issues. These include looking at what Ramadan is, what it means to Muslims, the impact it has on their daily lives for a month and how in turn this impacts their working lives.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan requires those who observe the faith to fast everyday from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. Specifically, they practice their annual exercise in spiritual and physical cleansing through fasting and other religious exercises.

According to Kwintessential, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Indonesia where the majority of the population will be fasting, the social cycle changes to accommodate people's needs. Work may start later due to people praying late into the night, it will certainly finish earlier to allow people to prepare for iftar (breaking of the fast) and the general pace of life drops down a couple of gears, especially for the important last 10 nights. In countries like North America, the pace of life continues as normal, although many Muslims will be going through the same rigours. This is mainly due to the lack of cultural awareness within businesses nowadays. Unawareness of aspects of the religion such as food and drink, interaction between genders, moral obligations, prayers and holidays is widespread.

The guide indicates that respecting cultural diversity in the workplace is simply best practice. If Muslim employees feel that they are being taken care of and understood on a personal level, a business will experience greater retention, morale and ultimately productivity.

The guide (in PDF) can be downloaded at www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/Ramadan%20and%20the%20Workplace%20-%20A%20Guide%20for%20HR.pdf

By Yosie Saint-Cyr, LL.B., Managing Editor at HRinfodesk.com

Published on HRinfodesk---Canadian Payroll and Employment Law News and Developments

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