Any HR Executive on board ? (How do you manage to not to celebrate employee

by zatang 57 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Scully

  Muslims don't celebrate birthdays.

  I guess it depends on the Muslim... perhaps they aren't supposed to, but I know quite a few who do... even birthdays of us filthy kuffar.

  JWs don't celebrate birthdays either... but we all know JWs who go out for dinner on their birthdays, you can call it whatever you want, but they are observing the birthday after a fashion. Hell, I used to know an Elder's™ wife who would lip-sync (lips would move, but no sound) the whole happy birthday song to you if she found out it was your birthday.
• 

  Quarterback

  I know of many HR exec's in the faith. Not all of them have any involvement with religious customs, and employee engagement doesn't have to be about that. Canada likes to endorse a neutral attitude towards diversity and one with acceptance of all cultures, race, and shall I say sexual orientation. That being said, it doesn't mean that you have to involve yourself in all of these differences, but you have to come accross as if you accept anyone regardless of their differences. You are also to be respected for your views as well. In other words, if you were a Mormon, and didn't drink coffee, and coffee was served in a morning meeting, you have the right to decline drinking coffee, but you may want to take another beverage, instead. Many JW's execs have mastered their dealings in workforce around these differences.

  Toasting is also a rough experience when you are attending a function...99 % of the world feel that this is alright. But, today, you can dismiss yourself from this custom in being open about your beliefs, and this should be accepted. It doesn't have to be a big drama. It's feels strange to isolate yourself from this participation but doing so will make many respect you for being loyal to who you really are.

  A good HR exec doesn't give into peer pressure, gossip, slander, and fear of men. You will go very far if you prove yourself in this way.
• 

  Scully

  The managers where I work recently started bringing a cake to work once a month in honour of everyone's celebrations. It didn't matter whether it was a personal celebration (birthday, wedding, new baby, new house, etc.) or a professional one (achieving an accreditation or certification, or presenting at a conference) the cake was to celebrate everything.

  You have to remember that the goal with these "celebrations" is that you are trying to build and maintain a positive morale among your staff. If you take away something that they are accustomed to doing, how does it benefit morale? Will it make your job of morale building easier or not?

  Understand that your beliefs regarding not observing the kuffar birthdays if it is the company's directive could put you in legal jeopardy for discriminating against persons on the basis of religion.

  If you are serious about your beliefs to the point that you cannot stomach the thought of offending Allah by celebrating with the kuffar, you really would be better off seeking employment with a Muslim-only company.
• 

  sammielee24

  I always wonder at the motive of people who purposely pursue employment that offends or frustrates them as it is against their religion or traditions etc.

  Example. I don't drink coffee. Caffeine is against my religious observance. My boss sends me out on coffee runs while there is a board meeting - part of my job is making sure that the meetings are scheduled, the previous minutes are distributed, attendance is taken and lunch is served. That includes coffee. It could include scheduling or setting up a dinner engagement at a restaurant, or spending time working with caterers for a fund raiser - and it could include alcohol which again is against my religious beliefs.

  I need the job. I do the tasks required of me and recognize with a great deal of logic, that because I prepare, plan or assist in those tasks, it does not make me celebratory nor a partaker. It makes me employable. It keeps me employed. The same job in another place would most likely mean the same parameters. I understand the separation between work and religion/life.

  If I purposely went into the job knowing all of this and then got frustrated or enraged because the employer or the other 200 employees didn't agree with eliminating that part of my job description, what kind of employee or even person would that make me? I don't need to push part of my work on someone else in order to make a point - I should have already been aware of my conscience and the level of my committment to my religious beliefs before I even entertained the thought of entering the field.

  So, it means that a person lacks awareness of themselves and conviction of their beliefs or that they want to make a point of forcing change in an environment where they have chosen to take that challenge.

  If the situation came up after the fact, there could be negotiation, but to enter into the contract with the knowledge of these requirements up front, and then get irritated and not want to follow through, means there are other issues at play. sammies
• 

  RubaDub

  Not sure if this is a real question or not ...

  But based on the facts gives, there is no reason that an HR manager could not be a JW. The fact that alerting people that the person has a birthday or buying a birthday cake, etc. is NOT the primary function of any HR manager that I have ever seen. This would be the same for a person who worked at a convenience store that sold tobacco products, lottery tickets, etc. Even the WT has given examples that working directly for a Blood Bank would be wrong but occasionally driving a truck that carried the blood would not necessarily be wrong.

  It's much different if the JW was the owner of the company but as an employee there is no problem (at least it is currently viewed as a conscience matter).

  Rub a Dub
• 

  james_woods

  I always wonder at the motive of people who purposely pursue employment that offends or frustrates them as it is against their religion or traditions

  e

  This reminds me a lot of the case we had here a few months back - a JW woman goes to work at a department store. It is the Thanksgiving to Christmans season.

  The JW adamantly refuses to wrap Christmas presents (which is part of the store's regular customer service) because of "pagan holiday".

  Several here pointed out that:

  First - just wrapping the present for somebody else is not observing christmas - not even by JW standards.

  Second - the witness should have had the common sense that she was going to work in a store whose major business during Christmas is to sell Christmas presents!!! DUH!!!

  I respectfully think the OP is "straining the gnat and swallowing the camel" with this - just like the department store clerk JW.
• 

  zatang

  @Iamallcool : Oh ok, I didn’t know that. I thought it is a forum of JWs

  @carla : I am very much aware that it is part of my job. But necessity is asking me to apply to these kinds of jobs. Actually just to avoid these things, my main inclination was to go into academics, I am qualified (as per the statutory requirements in India for becoming a university lecturer) to do so. But I am not getting interview calls from the colleges/universities I applied. Hence, I decided to broaden my job search to include industry jobs, besides academics

  @cofty: It’s not only someone’s birthday, it’s also about celebrating one’s own birthday. In a brief, the origins of birthday are marred with the greatest sin in Islam, i.e. Shirk (to associate partners with God). I have detailed document regarding why celebration of birthdays is unIslamic. If interested let me know and I would post it here.

  @jgnat: Yes, you are absolutely true. Not all Muslims are as serious about this restriction as others. The problem is that not all Muslims are ‘practicing Muslims’. Most of the Muslims claim to be Muslim as a part of a ‘racial creed’ i.e, they are only Muslims because of them being born to Muslims parents. It was not that they studied Islam and compared it with other faiths and made a rational and willful decision to accept and imbibe Islam as a faith. Anyway, this is off-topic so I would just leave it here.

  Yes, I totally agree that I should be respectful of the traditions of all cultures but there are certain areas where I certainly can’t compromise because of my faith. For e.g., Even it’s an official business meeting, I can’t be party to a gathering where the only drink served is alcohol and it would be considered rude and offensive to deny any alcoholic drink. Anyway, what I feel that the doctrine of multiculturalism is highly subjective and more and less it’s about making one common corporate culture, rather than peaceful coexistence with each other’s way of life, faith or ideology. In today’s context, it’s nothing but superimposition and replication of western culture and western way of life in Indian corporations.

  @ Jeffro I would be considered insane if I declare in job interview that I won’t be celebrating anyone’s birthday. Yes, I am looking somewhere else but I was searching to find a way out, if anything of that sort exists or is being practiced.

  I don’t make any difference between considering birthday celebrations ‘wrong’ or them being ‘not allowed’. They are only not allowed because of their origin.
• 

  zatang

  @Scully: One doesn’t get any secretary or sub-ordinate when one joins as a fresher in an entry level position. Secondly, No, there’s no difference between Muslims or non-Muslims when the prohibition is concerned. The celebration itself is prohibited, be it’s a Muslim’s or a non-Muslim’s birthday.

  There are hardly any businesses which are owned by Muslims. For the ones that exist, majority of them don’t have any restrictive hiring policy, nor are they headed by ‘practicing Muslims’. As with any businessman, Muslim business owners are just concerned about profits. Holding the tenets of faith never interferes with profits.

  Sorry to correct you but I never had any problem mingling with non-Muslims, nor does Islam prohibits to do so. 95% of my academic life was spent in non-Muslim educational institutes and still today, there are many of my friends who are non-Muslims. Please don’t presume which was never said.
• 

  james_woods

  @ Jeffro I would be considered insane if I declare in job interview that I won’t be celebrating anyone’s birthday.

  And you would be lying by omission if you did not say so - considering your completely uncompromising view on the subject.

  I think you came to what you believed was a JW board because you wanted sympathy from a group which also holds strict and unreasonable religious customs.

  We don't have sympathy for that here because we are FREE of these kinds of ridiculous restrictions.
• 

  zatang

  @ Band on the run: I agree what you wrote but as of now I don't have enough capital to start my own business

  Jokes apart, but the 'secular credentials' of birthday can be throroughly debated. Just to put a brief, the origin of birthday cake and blowing the candles has their roots in greek paganism where birthday rituals were associated with eradicating evil spirits. I fail to understand why such a ritual should be made to be accepted by everyone. Its all about compliance. Its my place and my rules, if you work here, we want full compliance otherwise the exit door is always open.