Managing Muslim employees
How to manage Muslim staff looks at ways small business owners accomodate employees observing Ramadan. Do you run your business differently during the Muslim holy month? Talk back here. Â
From none, tx I think the surgeon missed the point of the article. Please read it again. Article made some great points in how to approach a diverse work force in todays world.
From Anonymous This article is absurd and offensive. Could you imagine the title, "How to manage Jewish staff" or "How to manage Black staff" getting published? Jewish people take lots of days off for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hanukka, Purim, Passover, Sukkot, etc. so they can be with their family even though a lot of people who take these days off are non-observing, and no one, including myself, has a problem with that. No one is even asking for a break during Ramadan. If anything, some people will take the day of Eid as a holiday, and that counts as vacation time in most jobs. The day of Eid should be compared to Good Friday, which is taken as a holiday by many Christians and no one is opposed to that. In fact, to accommodate our Christian staff, our office is closed on Good Friday.
The fact that some countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Kuwait, whose populations are generally non-productive thanks to oil revenue, allow people to work even less during Ramadan is not to be taken as an example. I am a surgeon and have never taken a single hour off for Ramadan. I do not book down or alter my hours and it is business as usual. No one would be able to tell what day I am fasting and what day I am not. If anything, I am more productive when fasting because I no longer need a lunch break. In fact, when you consider all the time people take to eat, the post-prandial decrease in productivity that is typically seen after lunch, and the amount of time that is spent in the restroom when one eats and drinks during the day, one would find that Ramadan may increase productivity. It certainly does for me.
As far as people needing time off from work to cook goes, the Quran makes it clear that Ramadan is not a month of gluttony but rather of piety, and there should be no reason why one needs to prepare a more elaborate meal for dinner than at any other time of the year.
And as far as tasting food by the chef goes, Islamic law specifically allows one to taste food as long as one does not swallow it.
Nice comment…