Celebrating diversity in an early years setting does not just mean putting up displays about different religious festivals. It involves ensuring that staff members are not discriminated against.
In the UK the major Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter are public holidays, but what happens when nursery staff who are, say, Hindu or Muslim want to take time off for Diwali or Eid?
Such issues are covered by the Employment Equality Religion or Belief Regulation. According to Simon Bevan, head of the education employment team at solicitors Veale Wasbrough, 'Common sense is the principal requirement.
'Employers need to apply sound common sense, consult staff and consider requests. The employer needs to be reasonable in considering requests, but obviously has to take into account the needs of the business, for example in maintaining ratios.
'It may be that you can only have four people off at one time, but eight members of staff ask to have a particular day off for a religious festival. The costs of trying to cover for them with supply staff may be so high that you can only allow four people to take the day off. What you might do is discuss it with your staff and say maybe this year this four can have the day off and then next year the other four.
'It is a balancing act between the needs of the business and the needs of the individual. I always advise employers to adopt a "can do" approach and consider a request, not reject it outright. We should celebrate diversity. It might be one of the reasons that parents are attracted to your nursery.
'You could be guilty of indirect discrimination where you apply policies and procedures that you cannot justify. Discrimination is unlawful and will not be tolerated.'
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, says, 'A diverse team is both a great benefit for the nursery and for the children, who can experience meeting individuals from different backgrounds. A diverse range of applicants makes sound business sense, and a nursery must make sure that they have a strong diversity policy in place to ensure that employees feel supported and fully understand how they can raise an issue if they feel that they are being discriminated against due to their religion.
'Often, ensuring an employee is not indirectly discriminated against can just take a few small changes. For example, some religions forbid association with alcohol, so staff outings to a bar would be difficult for employees of a particular religion.
'It is essential that nurseries listen to staff requests and meet these as much as practically possible. An employer does not legally have to meet every single request, such as a separate prayer room, but they should be sympathetic and look at the options - for example, is it possible to ensure a quiet room is made available instead?'
RELIGION OR BELIEF IN THE WORKPLACE
Food
Some religions or beliefs have specific dietary requirements. If staff bring food into the workplace they may need to store and heat food separately from other food - for example, Muslims will wish to ensure their food is not in contact with pork (or anything that may have been in contact with pork, such as cloths or sponges).
It is good practice to consult your employees on such issues and find a mutually acceptable solution. One solution, which meets the needs of all the staff, at no extra cost to the employer, is to introduce a policy whereby all food must be stored in sealed containers in the staff refrigerator and the separate shelves should be designated 'meat' and 'vegetarian'.
Time for prayer
Organisations do not have to release staff for prayer outside normal rest breaks. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 staff are, in general, entitled to a rest break of not less than 20 minutes where working time is more than six hours.
Staff may request that their rest break coincides with their religious obligations to pray at certain times of the day. Employers may be justified in refusing such a request if, for example, it conflicts with legitimate business needs which they are unable to meet in any other way. If they are unable to justify such a refusal, this may be discrimination.
Managers should try to be flexible about when rest breaks are taken. It is good practice to ensure that staff know how to request such flexibility.
Policies
Employers should ensure that religion and belief are included in their Equality Policy. It is a good idea to review the Equality Policy to ensure it has not become outdated, to test any new employment policies and procedures for discrimination and to ensure the policy itself meets current legislation requirements.
Staff need to be made aware that it is not only unacceptable to discriminate, harass or victimise someone on the grounds of religion or belief, it is also unlawful. Organisations should also make it clear that they will not tolerate such behaviour. Staff should know what to do if they believe they have been discriminated against or harassed, or if they believe someone else is being discriminated against or harassed, and this should be included in the grievance procedure.
Advice from 'Religion or Belief in the workplace, a guide for employers and employees', published by the arbitration service ACAS, available to download from www.acas.org.uk
CASE STUDY: CLYDE PARASRAM
'The business comes first,' says Clyde Parasram, the proprietor of Dream Makers Day Nursery in Tower Hamlets, London, who has employed staff from all over the world. 'But my staff are my business. It depends upon them. We respect one another. I will try to be as flexible as I can, for example with requests for days off for religious festivals.
'We had a member of staff who wanted the day off for Eid. She pointed out that everyone had had Christmas off. We gave her the day off as a token gesture of goodwill. We recruited more staff and suddenly the next year we had three staff who all said they were going to get the day off. We then had to set down a protocol that there can be up to two people off at any one time.
'We have a wall planner and a holiday request form and we ask people to book their days in advance. Many religious festivals are based on the lunar cycle and people are not sure of the day until quite near to the time. We prefer staff to book a day off in advance and change it nearer the time, than suddenly say they want the next day off.
'If three people wanted the day off for a religious festival we would get cover in but if two wanted a day for a religious festival and the third wanted to go shopping we would say to the third, "Sorry. The policy is two off at a time".
'We always ask staff to tell us if they are fasting so we can take account of health and safety issues. We would say to someone fasting to take on activities that allowed them to sit down and not rush around.
'We put a lot into team building. If someone was doing less strenuous things because they were fasting, we would expect them to be ready to take on more of the physical strain afterwards.
'Health and safety are paramount when it comes to the dress code and wearing of jewellery. The rule is no dangling earrings, no dangling necklaces. If someone wants to wear a crucifix on a chain around their neck and keep it tucked in under their clothes, that is fine. We have had people working here wearing headscarves, and people wearing shalwar kameez.
'I speak to each member of staff on a one-to-one basis every month so they can raise anything with me. It may be that a new recruit does not know our policies well enough or somebody is maybe over sensitive but they know they can raise anything with me and I will listen.'