THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2024 57 to all employees that these organizations and the people they represent are legitimate and valued parts of the workforce. The organizations are making themselves visible in other, more formal ways as well. Following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, JAD, AMFAS, and GRACE came together to organize a “Moment of Silence for Unity and Peace” on Oct. 30 and a “Gathering of Solidarity for Peace” on Nov. 29. Held at State and attended virtually by posts around the world, these two events demonstrated the groups’ shared values of condemning hate and terrorism while exemplifying a spirit of interreligious harmony. One included readings of scripture from each religion, as well as other faith traditions, and served as a clear example of how employees can visibly and explicitly express their faith in the workplace. Finally, the three employee organizations are working closely with department leadership—including the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, FSI, and GTM— to ensure all employees and managers are aware of best practices to accommodate employees of faith in the workplace. The Aim—and Hope In January and February 2024, the governing boards of JAD, GRACE, and AMFAS met with GTM’s Chief Labor Management Negotiator Steve Polson and Dean of FSI’s Leadership and Management School Tom Vajda to discuss the role of the three EOs in the department’s broader DEIA initiatives and the development of professional training for employees on religious inclusion and accommodation. The hope of the EOs is that these efforts will ultimately educate and inform the department’s workforce and ensure that religious employees are treated fairly and consistent with their constitutional rights and that managers, in particular, are better equipped to manage requests for religious accommodation. Employees of faith make up a valued part of the mosaic of diversity within the department. Allowing those employees to express their faith freely, consistent with the First Amendment, and have their requests for religious accommodation fairly and equitably adjudicated is integral to the department’s DEIA initiatives. These faith-based employee organizations are working hard—and, critically, working together—to raise the profile of people of faith and to advocate for greater religious inclusion in the workplace. GRACE, JAD, and AMFAS are proud to take their place alongside other identity-based employee organizations to protect the rights of individual employees and improve the diversity of the department. n
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=