Developing Religious Literacy through Conversational Spaces for Religion in the Workplace

With immigration, there will be an increasing number of residents with a religious minority background in nursing homes in Norway. This group has the right to live in accordance with their beliefs, and nursing home managers have a duty to ensure residents' rights. Employees with an immigrant and religious minority background represent an under-used source of competence in this context. How can this resource be accessed and put to use to provide equitable services to citizens with a religious minority background? This study proposes using religious literacy as a practice-oriented framework to strengthen the ability of healthcare personnel to engage with religion. To develop religious literacy, managers should facilitate an organizational culture that welcomes religion in the workplace, deliberately inviting religion into the conversational space. For sharing and mutual learning, the conversational space must be hospitable and safe. Developing religious literacy through conversational spaces for religion in the workplace is a contribution to diversity management practices.