🕔 No. 1: Flexible Working Hours
This is the most common practice, allowing Muslim employees to leave one hour earlier in exchange for skipping lunch break or starting work earlier. This arrangement must be based on mutual agreement.
🦀 No. 2: Be Mindful with Food Events
Avoid organising birthday celebrations or farewell lunches at midday. If unavoidable, keep them discreet. Alternatively, move gatherings to iftar instead. Yes, our Muslim friends may say “it’s okay,” but courtesy is not about what’s allowed.
⏳ No. 3: Rethink Meeting Schedules
Avoid long, high-energy meetings in the late afternoon. Schedule critical discussions earlier in the day so we can keep meetings focused and efficient, the last meeting should not start later than 4:00pm.
🫰 No. 4: Encourage Team Understanding
Brief the team, no insensitive jokes about food, and avoid comparisons like “Eh, I also tired what”. Hello. Ramadan is not a competition of who suffers more.
🏧 No. 5: Consider Early Salary Release (If Possible)
In my previous company, we offered early salary release or salary advances to help employees manage festive expenses. If you have a large workforce, this might be operationally challenging, so you might want to consider available technology such as PayWatch to manage such arrangements more efficiently.
All suggestions are not compulsory. They are professional considerations.
Please do consider.
xoxoxo, AuntyHR 🌙
