Religious rights
pgaughan
7 Posts
I have a current situation about employees using religious word in their emails - such as "God Bless" "Be a Blessing for God" "Your friend in God", etc. Both of these employees are in the same department and just starting ending their emails with these captions.
I now have another employee who is "offended" by their emails and wants me to make them stop.
Anybody ever had an issue like this? Words of wisdom. The last place I worked for 15 years was a faith-based organization and this was not an issue.
Thanks!
I now have another employee who is "offended" by their emails and wants me to make them stop.
Anybody ever had an issue like this? Words of wisdom. The last place I worked for 15 years was a faith-based organization and this was not an issue.
Thanks!
Comments
I think the recipient who complains about something like this is a bigger problem than e-mail signatures, though.
Have you reviewed your electronic communication policy? That's where I would start.
A knee jerk reaction would be to go tell the e-mailers to stop but you will simply have two offended people instead of one.
I am tempted to suggest that this is one of those situations where more could be gained by getting everyone together and letting them discuss it than by issuing an edict from HR.
When people have to face eachother, its amazing what can happen.
Amen.
They might have taken offense as perhaps they feel it is not appropriate in the workplace.
And the number of people we as HR professionals offend should enter into a solution equation?
I am not opposed to a pow-wow after the fact if it makes everyone feel warm and fuzzy.
Employees will make HR the hatchet man for all their petty little offenses if you want to let them.
I say its more productive and effective to get people talking to eachother and learning to settle their differences than hiding behind an e-mail sent to HR.
In the long run, its more effective than issuing edicts from on high.
Where did I say WHATEVER some feels is not appropriate? This would seem to me to be religion related, not I don't like the color of her hair which would be whatever. .
Employees will make HR the hatchet man for all their petty little offenses if you want to let them.
????
I say its more productive and effective to get people talking to eachother and learning to settle their differences than hiding behind an e-mail sent to HR.
Talking is good, I agree. So you hold your meeting, and I the offended say I am atheist and your reference to God offends me and is not appropriate for the work place. You the offender, say this is my belief I don't mean to offend you but it is important to me to use the sign off. .What would you do then.
In the long run, its more effective than issuing edicts from on high.[/QUOTE]
I agree, but talking doesn't always work and again it doesn't have to come off as an edict. .
Also Paul, I may have missed it but I did not see where the original poster said the complaint came via email. .
Will talking help? There is no guarantee that it will. I think its a good starting point though.
Is it less offensive for someone to see an e-mail with the signature "God bless" than for a person of faith to hear "Oh my god! Traffic was horrible!"
Where do you draw the line? How much do you want to police the language and expressions of your employees? How sure are you that you are being fair and treating each group equally?
My point is rather than issuing policies that can often have unintended consequences (pleasing one person and angering ten others) lets get people to talk about how we can work together and accept the minor differences we may have in these essentially inconsequential matters.
I think there are forms of innappropriate religious expression in the workplace but these vague, generalized references to God don't cross that line (in my opinion anyways).
I might be the minority opinion on this and that's ok. Its an interesting discussion regardless.
Which is why I have a hard time accepting that someone can be offended from something that is so generalized and relatively innoucuous.
Are they offended by "God bless you" when someone sneezes?
"Is it less offensive for someone to see an e-mail with the signature "God bless" than for a person of faith to hear "Oh my god! Traffic was horrible!""
While I'm a person of faith, I would be more offended by an e-mail signature, which to me has no business in the workplace, than by a commonly used phrase...I don't think it is our place to judge what is the most offensive, as we cannot possibly know how and what will offend an employee or customer. What goes in our e-mails reflects on the company - unless your company publicly acknowledges support of some religion, I wouldn't want religious references in e-mails that might possibly make its way to a prospective clients' inbox.
As to whether sitting and talking about it is the best course of action, or whether asking the e-mailers to remove their signature, to me it depends on your company culture, your policies, and your employees. For many things like this, when personal preference is involved, I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer. You know what's best for your company and how the employees will act - go with your gut.
Personally, I find "Friend of God" a bit silly if not a little wacky sounding. But religious expression in the workplace is a complex issue and I think any organization ought to carefully research their policies or decisions before implementing them.
It has long been believed that your heart stops and you are close to death when you sneeze. I read it somewhere that this is why people say, "God bless you" when you sneeze.
If you can't communicate the value of your beliefs through your example and the graciousness you extend to others, whats the point of a bumper sticker or an e-mail signature?
Should be professional and business only, that's what we pay folks for.
Our move didn't have much to do with the 'additional' comments made as part of the signature - there were some really nice saying that supported the business and allowed some sense of individuality. Our move had much more humble goals - to eliminate the misspellings, excessive use of pastels and scripts, and the animated gifs. I would have rather told everyone you can use your own signature until you violate a ban against misspellings, pastels, script, or animated gifs. But it's tough to push that argument when you have long-term employees in leadership positions identifying themselves as
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=palegreen][I]Branch Manger[/I][/COLOR][/FONT]
\:D/
Now I am wondering if Carol was laughing at the responses that were MEANT to be funny. Only Carol knows I suppose.