Supporting and Managing Muslim Employees during Ramadan

One of the great things about working in HR is that in order to enable the organisation to manage the fabulously diverse workforce properly we need to try and understand what motivates them and also what does the opposite.

This often means improving our knowledge about all kinds of areas that we may not previously have known much about. For me I’ve always been fascinated by the different religions and have worked with some brilliant Muslim employees over the years who have been really open about their faith, helping me to understand their beliefs and therefore hopefully support them better in work.

Although I had been aware of Ramadan beforehand, working with Muslim employees who were observing the fast and discussing this with them helped me to understand its meaning and why it is so important to them. From this I’d like to think I’ve been able to better advise employers how to support Muslim employees through this time, which is clearly a challenging one for them.

Although there are 3.3 million Muslims in the UK (1.8 billion worldwide according to the Times), and many are very strong in their religious practice and observance, I find that in the non Muslim communities even though we work with, interact with and have friends who are Muslim we generally don’t understand much about Islam or the various requirements and festivals. In fact I’d go as far as to say we are often hesitant about them, a little bit of ‘fear of the unknown’.

So if you’ll allow me, before I explain how organisations should support their team through Ramadan I’d like to explain my understanding of what it is and what the requirements are for Muslims during this period.

Please accept my sincere apologies if I have misunderstood certain aspects or I come across as patronising, explaining things you already know – my article is based on my experience of most British people having very little knowledge of this. I am also very much still learning!

What and When is Ramadan?

Ramadan lasts from 12 April to 12 May this year. It is, for Muslims, the holiest month of the year where they fast during daylight hours. It is directly followed by Eid, which is a celebration of the breaking of the fast.

The dates for when Ramadan is observed change each year because the Islamic calendar is lunar. Ramadan is celebrated during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar year. The current year, 1442, runs from 20 August 2020 to 9 August 2021.

Due to its lunar nature each year in the Islamic calendar is shorter than the ‘Gregorian’ calendar used in the UK. So far so good as far as my understanding goes, although I have not yet worked out why the Islamic calendar lunar month is longer than 28 days.

Muslims believe that it was at this time that the prophet Mohammed received a series of revelations from God, which were then combined to form the Koran. From what was revealed to him, the Prophet informed his followers that during this month the gates to heaven would stay open and the gates to hell would be closed.

During the month of Ramadan, practising Muslims devote as much time as they are able to focus on prayer, purification, and charitable acts. They often recite as much of the Koran as they can in this period, and observe a fast during the hours of daylight.

Muslims then celebrate the end of the fast of Ramadan from the first day of the tenth month with a feast, known as the ‘Festival of Breaking Fast’ or ‘Eid al-Fitr’, often shortened to ‘Eid’ during conversation. In addition to the feast, gifts are exchanged and there are great celebrations.

Why do Muslims fast during this period?

Five ‘pillars’ underpin the Islamic faith. They are prayer, giving a percentage of salary to charity, making the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, a belief in the Muslim faith, and fasting at certain times.

Fasting is seen as a time to purify both the body and spirit, where material pleasures are put to one side so the individual can be closer to God. In addition to purification, the reflection and religious observance practised during this time is believed to remind Muslims of others who are less fortunate, which in turn will complement another of the ‘pillars’ of the Muslim faith, charitable giving.

What does this mean in practical terms for Muslims?

From sunrise until sunset, during the period of Ramadan, Muslims must abstain from food, drink, smoking and having sex. They therefore need to get up very early in the morning, certainly before sunrise, to eat, drink and pray.

Once the sun has set then the fast can be broken for that day and most Muslim families share a meal together. Often certain specific foods are included in the meal, such as dates, according to tradition.

There are some exemptions from the requirements to observe fasting during Ramadan such as for children, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding and those who are sick.

There are also special arrangements for the length of the daily fast in countries such as in the Nordics where, especially towards the end of Ramadan there will be twenty hours plus of daylight.

Let’s now consider how employers can best support their workforce during Ramadan.

Flexible Working

With Muslim employees starting their day before sunrise during Ramadan, and then not eating or drinking until sunset they may wish to start their working day earlier than normal.

There is no legal requirement for employers to agree to such requests as long as they can justify the decision and refusal is not just a case of ‘because I said so’! It is clearly in everyone’s best interests if employers can be as accommodating as possible.

Although all employees have a legal right to request Flexible Working, the legislation only covers permanent changes to working patterns so that is unlikely to be an issue.

There is of course the practical consideration that, if the employee has not eaten or drank (or had sex but that’s probably less likely to be an issue at work!) since sunrise, when it gets to mid to late afternoon they may become fatigued and their performance start to suffer so it would make business sense to agree to such requests to start their working day earlier during Ramadan in terms of performance. I should stress here though that I have read no reports, and seen no evidence, of Muslim employee performance suffering during Ramadan.

Similarly, organisations may wish to consider holding important meetings earlier in the day where possible.

Clearly, special consideration should be made where a Muslim employee operates dangerous machinery or has a role where fatigue may be dangerous for themselves or others e.g. driving. This does not mean drastic changes should be made across the board, but employers may wish to speak with their employees who are fasting, check how they are coping and, where there is a danger of injury due to fatigue, agree with them to discreetly monitor this in a non invasive way and provide any necessary support.

Annual Leave

Muslim employees tend to request more holidays during Ramadan than at other times of the year, to help them with their fast, contemplation and charity work. They often especially wish to have time off for the Eid celebrations following Ramadan and employers should do all they can to accommodate such requests for obvious reasons although, as with flexible working requests, there is no specific legal requirement to do so.

Although employers should be sympathetic to holiday requests around Ramadan and Eid, if there is a good business reason to turn down the holiday request e.g. if there are already the permitted number of employees taking holiday at that time, they are entitled to do so and it is unlikely that such a decision would be considered to be discrimination.

Having said that, clearly employers should do all they can to agree to requests for annual leave during this time e.g. consider whether for a short period the individual’s work may be done by others. Failure to do so may lead to a breakdown in the employer – employee relationship and even claims for discrimination if the individual can show they were treated unfairly due to their race, religion or belief when compared to others.

Whereas discrimination claims are rare for issues connected to Ramadan and refusal of holiday requests, and normally any such issue would form part of a wider claim where such treatment is one of a number of examples of unfair treatment, there have been some successful and high profile claims regarding employer refusals to grant holiday for one of the other 5 pillars of the Islamic faith – a pilgrimage to Mecca. I won’t go into detail here as it is not specifically connected to Ramadan but if you would like to discuss this further please contact us

Racial Harassment

Muslim employees are at an increased risk of harassment during Ramadan as others will notice them abstaining from food and drink during the day. It is highly possible that there will be ‘banter’ regarding this that some may view as good hearted and funny but the individual, who is, afterall, doing this for serious reasons of faith, may feel is demeaning or that their colleagues are making fun of their religion. I can imagine some wits noisily eating or drinking in front of Muslim employees, or repeatedly asking if they want a biscuit, a coffee etc. thinking they are funny but actually being quite offensive. This should clearly be discouraged and managed as appropriate.

On the other hand, as Ramadan is now quite high profile in the UK, employees of different faiths may feel that Muslim employees are unfairly receiving preferential treatment during this time compared to them if they have had similar requests turned down e.g. the employer makes exceptions for Muslims during Ramadan but does not do so for devout Christians during Christmas or Easter. Employers clearly need to ensure they are consistent and treat all religions equally.

Employers may wish to consider these issues, discuss them with their Muslim employees and then consider making subtle changes during Ramadan to support these colleagues e.g. delay a team meeting where food and drink is provided until after Ramadan has finished.

At 186hr we are passionate about diversity and inclusion issues and have developed the ‘Diversity Awareness’ course to improve employee knowledge in this area, and also our most popular course, ‘Dignity and Respect in the Workplace’ where the topics and learning points regarding where the ‘bar’ is regarding banter and culture in the workplace are explained in story form based on actual Tribunal cases to make the main points clear and easy to understand. Attendees tend to find this interesting and engaging. It certainly encourages debate!

Please contact us for further details on these training courses. Hopefully it won’t be long before courses can once again take place!

Redundancies and other difficult management issues

Whereas care should be taken to accommodate employees’ requirements during Ramadan and other religious festivals, this does not mean that difficult business issues need to be put on hold for that month. If an employee is underperforming or behaves in an unacceptable way then such issues should continue to be managed via the disciplinary procedure, albeit in a way that is sensitive to the individual’s faith.

Likewise, if redundancies are necessary at this time then as long as organisations are mindful of the employees’ circumstances they can proceed as normal. For further details on redundancies please see our free guide 8 Steps to Making Redundancies on our blog or view details of our complete Practical Guide to Making Redundancies below.

If you would like to discuss the management of employees during Ramadan, other religious festivals, diversity and inclusion training, or any other HR issues please contact us