As Muslims across the
world begin fasting, the Human Resource Managers need to understand how to
ensure the business continuity and performance of Muslim employees. Ramadan is
the nine month of Muslims. This is the month where every Muslim tries to be spiritual by observing the compulsory and recommended rituals. Throughout
the 29 or 30 days fasting, Muslims engage in increased acts of prayer and
charity.
Due to this, a Muslim’s
daily activities change because sleep and meal times have to be disrupted. Managing
such a person in a company where operational efficiency is prioritised towards
sustainable value delivery to clients requires a lot of strategies.
This necessitates the
need for flexible working hours. HR and Team Lead could allow Muslim employees
to work different hours. For instance, Muslims employees’ pick period starts
from 9am and ends at 12pm. It is better to schedule the duties or activities of
the Muslim employees for the period.
It would be
counterproductive to send Muslim employees to sites in the afternoon, starting
from 1pm, when fatigue is likely to be more pronounced. During Ramadan, HR
needs to monitor Muslims employees more. This is necessary because fasting may
affect an employee’s concentration and productivity levels, especially when the
employee feels dizzy always.
When this is
discovered, the right strategy is to allow such employee to rest. Penalising
such employee could amount to discrimination and seeing the company has not
prioritising health and safety of employees.
Since the spiritual
activities increase during the month, it will not be bad for the HR to arrange
a space for Muslim employees to observe compulsory and special prayers. Doing
this would be seen by the majority of the Muslim employees as being included and
valued.
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