Anticipate staffing needs and factor them into any policy or accommodation discussion in order to identify limits and possible areas of flexibility. The Cargill facility had specific staffing requirements on the assembly line. Other types of business can anticipate staffing and productivity issues, for example, during tax season, earnings reporting, or the holiday retail rush.
Conflict avoidance and ethics aren’t the only reason to work toward solutions to religious accommodations. A recent study shows that workers who feel religiously comfortable in the workplace have higher job satisfaction. And, as Noelle Nelson demonstrates in her book Make More Money by Making Your Employees Happy, higher job satisfaction among employees leads to greater profitability for the employer.
As Cargill and other employers are discovering, faith is a part of the whole person that employers ignore at their peril.
The writer admits to not knowing enough about the Cargill situation to understand the issues. At Cargill, Muslim workers insisted that they all had to pray together at one time in the provided prayer room without regard to the production schedule. I know that in Egypt, for instance, Muslims work around the production schedule and pray when able. There is no reason why what can be done in Egypt cannot be done in Colorado or Minnesota.
The reason that some Muslims insist their employers and the entire culture of the country they find themselves in bend to their inflexible demands is to impose Sharia law, one step at a time. Such Muslims do not recognize themselves as citizens of a country nor subject to the laws of a country, but as Dar al Islam waging jihad against Dar al Harb, by whatever means possible, violent or non-violent but coercive nonetheless.