(Published April 6, 2009)
It's the time of the year that leaves many HR managers bumfuzzled — how to manage coverage when the holy days of two major religions fall at the same time.
It's not surprising that the Jewish Passover and the Christian Holy Week fall at the same time, since historically, the two events are tied together. But it does occasionally create difficulties when you have more employees looking for time off than you have the capacity to allow. It can make the situation even more complex on Good Friday, when many, if not most, churches will be holding their services from noon until three.
I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I don't know as much about Passover (Pesach) as I should. I do know that it runs eight days. Christians generally observe Maundy (or Holy) Thursday, as well as Good Friday. Easter, of course, falls on a Sunday, so if you use the standard Monday-Friday workweek, this should not affect you. But, of course, there are plenty of industries that are open seven days a week and/or 24 hours a day.
The one thing you don't want to do is allow time off for one religion and not another. If you're going to give time off for religious observances (and you do have to if you can, under the law) you need to be consistent. One option is to do it on a strictly first-come-first-served basis, but that's not entirely satisfactory. What I prefer is to try to adjust shifts or trade hours, so that Christian employees can have Friday afternoon off, Jewish employees can be home by sundown, etc. That's not always entirely possible either, but at least it has the advantage of giving everyone a shot at getting their time off. In a first-come-first-served situation, there's always the possibility that the first who come will all be of the same religion, risking the perception that only certain religions will be accommodated.
In my experience, most employees will be fairly cooperative if they see that you are attempting to give them the time they need for religious observances. I was once in a 24/7 workplace where a group of employees arranged their own shift coverage so that each of them managed to get to services at least once, and then proudly presented their amended schedule to the owner of the facility and asked permission to implement it. (It was gladly granted — and the initiative rewarded.) We unfortunately can't count on that kind of initiative every time, and of course there's always someone who insists that they must have all the time they want and can't possibly cover for anyone else. But these are few and far between, at least where I've been dealing with the issue.
At least it's only a few days out of the year. Get beyond this, and then start checking the dates for Ramadan!
Catherine Bannon is an HR consultant in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting practice.
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