Is Ramadan and Its Requirements Respected In The Workplace?
We say we are living in a world where multiculturalism is growing rapidly. We say we are diverse and inclusive, and we will not judge or treat individuals differently because of their age, race, religion, sexuality, mental and physical capacity, but to what extent do we believe and implement this, especially within the workplace? The total population of the United Kingdom (UK) in 2021 was 68,207,116 - of which 3.3 million were Muslims. This means that roughly about 5.9 % of the UK population consists of Muslims. As the Muslim community is rapidly growing in our country, I think it is high time that we educate ourselves in order to become as diverse and inclusive as we say we are.
I am a Muslim woman. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, and like all Muslims around the globe, every year I also observe Ramadan. Every year the holy month of Ramadan falls on the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world observe fasts which is the act of abstaining from food or drink from dawn till dusk for the entire month. I, myself, started fasting from the age of 15. While observing my fast, I continued with my day-to-day routine, be it attending an academic institution, performing various motherly duties, and working full time. Fasting is an integral part of my life. If I am fit and healthy, I will continue to fast during Ramadan.
But where does that leave me when it comes to my work place environment? It leaves me with the challenge of either finding a workplace that respects my religious commitments OR where either the majority, if not all, of my colleagues are Muslims and also observe Ramadan. The difficulties I have in finding a workplace that understands and accommodates me lead me to come to only one conclusion - we are not an inclusive nation.
From my personal experience, employers find it difficult to understand the requirements of fasting during the month of Ramadan. There could be many reasons for this. Even though the Muslim community is growing rapidly, we are still a minority in comparison to others.
We all are aware that staying away from food or drink is a challenging task all together. I cannot even begin to count how many times I have skipped breakfast or dinner and felt my energy level become depleted. If by just skipping one or two meals, we feel drained, then let’s just take a second to imagine what Muslims who are observing fasting go through for the entire 30 days of Ramadan. I know it is hard to imagine how us Muslims stay away from eating and drinking; honestly, it does take a lot of will-power, not to mention mental and physical strength. I can remember when Ramadan occurred in the hottest months of the year - these months were considered the toughest months for Muslims around the globe especially as we are not allowed even a drop of water whilst fasting.
During these hottest months, I worked for one of the four largest supermarket giants in the UK. While the rest of the country was enjoying the sunshine, I was fasting for 19 hours while working 10-hour shifts. Working during Ramadan is challenging on its own but working a 10-hour shift is challenging on a whole different level. Fellow retail workers can agree with me when I say retail work is draining, especially as you’re constantly conversing with either colleagues or customers. Now imagine this is a 10-hour shift where you only have an hour break and you’re fasting, so you need that break in order to break your fast. Where I worked, even asking to go to the toilet raised some eyebrows. Now just imagine if I asked for a five-minute break because I felt weak or if my head was pounding. Forget about showing some compassion towards colleagues who are fasting, employers fail to even allow you to exercise your basic human rights. If you asked for a short break you were told “if you’re finding it so difficult, why are you fasting?”. To all these companies, who claim to be diverse and inclusive, is it just a publicity stunt so that they can maintain their image in front of shareholders and stand out from their competitors? Diversity and inclusion are merely words that carry no weight unless they are put into practice.
My workplace had issues with all Muslim colleagues leaving the shop floor to open their fasts together. They said, “well who will run the shop?”. This branch had been open for five years and had a mix of colleagues from different faiths and backgrounds, but still, every year we faced the same issues when it came to the month of Ramadan. It is not as if my employer was not aware that the month of Ramadan was advancing. For a supermarket, Ramadan is an important month of the retail calendar geographically speaking. So why did my employer have no empathy towards their Muslim colleagues who were serving every customer walking through their door while fasting?
Other issues I faced while working and observing Ramadan included the challenge of getting days off during Ramadan so I could perform my religious duties. It came to my attention that, apparently, employers are not obliged to grant leave for religious purposes. With this being true, again I ask - how as a country are we inclusive when, on one hand, we claim to be multicultural and, on the other hand, individuals of different faiths have no right to ask for leave to observe their religious duties?
It cannot be emphasised enough that employers not only need to continuously educate colleagues in relation to different religious beliefs and their requirements, but they also need to show compassion towards employees that are fulfilling their religious duties alongside their work commitments. I am not talking about making dramatic changes to their policies, but small changes to how they carry out their day-to-day duties. For instance, employers can incorporate small frequent breaks for employees who are observing Ramadan, reshuffle duties as attention and energy levels will be at a low while fasting, or offer employees dates and water to break their fast. These minimal changes are easy to implement, would raise morale levels (which can only help business) and, even more than any of that, maybe the UK could finally become as inclusive as it pretends to be.
Written by Sadiyya Begum
My name is Sadiyya Begum, I am a mom of two, who is passionate about writing and sharing content. I also have a BA Honor in Accounting, I am now studying programming part-time, in order to build a new career following a long break from being a full-time mom.
