(The Conversation) — Since we spend so much of our lives at work, it’s only natural that conversations with colleagues take precedence over the work in front of us. People share interests and hobbies, family struggles, health concerns, and hopes or goals, from the silly to the serious.

The subject of religion, however, can cause anxiety. Many people might point to what the Muslim CEO of a tech company told us: “If you want to express your faith, do it! Do it on your own time.” Uncertainty surrounding the role of religion in the workplace tends to lead to silence. Even among job researchers, religion is often ignored.

However, for many people, faith is a core component of their identity – part of “the whole self” who are the employees more and more encouraged to bring to work. It’s an important piece of diversity, but one that managers often keep on their toes. And for many Americans, faith is part of the reason they show up to work every day: 1 in 5 consider their work a spiritual calling.

We are social scientists who spent the last five years conducting research on the role of faith at work. Our findings—from more than 15,000 surveys of a nationally representative population and nearly 300 in-depth interviews with some of these workers—confirm that there are many challenges when religion enters the workplace. However, the costs of ignoring or suppressing workers’ faith often overcome these risks and challenges.

Conflict and discrimination

The most common concern I’ve heard about bringing religion into the workplace is that it will lead to conflict—including conflict from people trying to change each other’s beliefs. A Catholic woman working in aged care told us: “I think we shouldn’t talk about religion at work because that’s when the problems arise. I will defend what I think, and they will defend what they think, their way of being, their religion.”

Several other people I interviewed expressed concern about certain forms of religious expression it might make people uncomfortableor even turn into harassment. A non-religious security guard noted that during Christmas and Easter, some of his fellow Christians would say, “‘God bless,’ ‘Let’s pray,’ and things like that.” It becomes very unsettling for me, uncomfortable.”

Asking workers to bottle up their faith when they start the workday may seem like the easiest way to avoid these problems. Some workers we interviewed agreed with this sentiment. As one Muslim federal employee told us, “If I wear my religion as a badge on my shoulder, I’m going to rub somebody the wrong way. So why do it?”

Furthermore, silence around religion may seem like a neutral request. If no one expresses their faith, after all, then no one can be discriminated againstno one can be offended and no one is seen as receiving special treatment for their religious beliefs.

Not so neutral

There are a few problems with this logic, however.

First, employers are legally required to provide reasonable accommodations related to workers’ religion. Under most conditions, this includes things like taking time off for religious observance. It also generally includes adapting clothing and grooming practices related to one’s religion, such as wearing Sikh turbans or Christian crosses.

Furthermore, vague expectations about non-recognition of faith in the workplace are not necessarily so neutral and often tend to be disproportionate. harms minority groups.

In our survey, we asked individuals if they “hide their religious beliefs at work for fear of others’ perceptions.” Nineteen percent of Jewish workers, 51 percent of Hindus, 29 percent of Muslims, and 28 percent of Buddhists said they did. In contrast, only 9% of evangelical Protestants, 15% of non-evangelical Protestants, and 13% of Catholics reported that hide their faith at work.

A Jewish project manager at an engineering firm told us how he tried to hide his faith from others: “Whenever I had to pray, I actually went into a corner in the hallway to pray. do what.”

In the same survey, we asked individuals if they had “been treated unfairly” at work because of their “religion or non-religion.” Overall, 31% of US adults agreed and such experiences are most common among Muslim and Jewish workers.

One Muslim woman we interviewed described how her colleagues made her life extremely difficult by calling her derogatory names and said she received little support from her employer. Indeed, during one meeting, her boss “woke up and talked a lot about me being a Muslim and it was all negative.”

Satisfaction and belonging

Whether coworkers or managers like it, many adults in the U.S. are watching their work and faith as intertwined.

One of our surveys, for example, asked workers if they “turn to faith for support during stressful times in their work lives.” Almost half agreed.

For many Americans, faith is also part of the reason they do their jobs in the first place. According to another survey of ours, 20% of US adults “see their work as a spiritual calling.” This percentage is higher among certain groups, such as evangelical Protestants and Muslims: 33% and 30% respectively. Viewing work in spiritual terms is also more likely among women, at 24 percent, and black workers, at 31 percent.

And it’s not just workers in explicitly religious jobs who see their work this way. A marine biologist explained to us: “I believe that all truth comes from God, and as a scientist I try to understand and reveal the truth about how the world works.”

Importantly, our research finds that people who feel a sense of spiritual connection to their work report greater job satisfaction, find more meaning in their work, and better manage the negative experiences they encounter at work.

Social science research has found that people welfare, social interactions and performance they are harmed when they feel the need to suppress an important part of themselves within a group or organization. In other words, everyone suffers when individuals are not allowed to bring their whole selves to work.

Welcome to work

Despite this evidence, our research finds that many organizations do not even take the basic steps to accommodate individuals’ religious lives.

In a surveywe asked workers if their “workplace provides accommodations that allow people to practice their religion.” Almost a fifth of workers disagreed. This percentage was highest among Muslim workers: 54%.

Workers appreciate it when their employers take active steps inform employees that religious accommodations are available and that religious expression is generally not prohibited. Having initial conversations about what is and isn’t appropriate—not only legally, but socially—can lead to setting boundaries.

A Muslim optometry technician I interviewed, for example, recounted how appreciative she was when her boss told her, “If you’re ever doing prayers or something, feel free to go into that room—it can be your space, you can to leave your mat inside. There.”

Ideally, however, organizations would take active steps to establish and communicate policies to all employees, rather than reacting to situations as they arise.

While we recognize the challenges when it comes to addressing individuals’ faith in the workplace, proactively engaging in conversations about the appropriate role of religion in the workplace is better for workers and workplaces.

Denise Daniels receives funding from the Lilly Endowment.

Elaine Howard Ecklund receives funding from the Templeton Religion Trust and the Lilly Endowment.

(Christopher P. Scheitle, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University. Denise Daniels, Chair of Entrepreneurship, Wheaton College (Illinois). Elaine Howard Ecklund, Professor of Sociology, Rice University. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of those of the religious news service.)