Would you go as far as banning a crucifix, as has happened in the UK?

If I were managing a service business, for instance a restaurant, I'd put this into the anti-harassment portion of orientation.

Our policy about religion in the workplace is that we think of it as if it were sex.

I didn't hire you to flirt with, date, or have sex with each other; I also didn't hire you to proselytize, evangelize, or preach to each other.

You can easily understand, I hope, how an unwanted sexual proposition can make someone else really uncomfortable. You should also understand how an unwanted religious proposition can do the same thing. You can easily understand, I hope, how unwanted sexual conversation can foul up the workplace environment. Same thing with religion.

I will respond to a report that employee X proselytized employee Y or customer Z exactly as if I heard that employee X sexually propositioned that other person. Unless everyone involved sincerely tells me that it's mutually agreeable and consensual, I'm treating it exactly like it was sexual harassment.

There is to be zero retaliation for someone declining a sexual proposition from a co-worker or objecting to sexualized communications. There is also to be zero retaliation for someone declining a religious proposition or objecting to religious communications.

I won't tell you what to do when you're off work, other than not embarrassing the company in public, and treating your co-workers you happen to encounter with enough respect that you do not contaminate the culture of our workplace. Off-work and privately, you're free to behave as you wish. Sexually or religiously.

If there is off-work conduct going on involving more than one of you, that's not to interfere with what happens at work. Positively or negatively.

If you do invite a co-worker to your church, you must not pressure them to accept. Be aware that someone else may think they're being pressured even if that isn't your intent, and if they do, I'm very likely to take their side. You must also respect their decision, whatever that may be. Should they decline your invitation, you must neither hold it against them nor ask them again.

You already know that you are not to hold it against anyone if they choose to not participate in a sexual activity with you, and for the exact same reason, you're not to hold it against anyone if they choose to not participate in a religious activity with you.

Or if they previously did, and now have changed their minds and no longer wish to. They are free to make that decision and our policy is that you will respect that.

If someone approaches you with religion in proximity to the workplace, just as if they had made a romantic or sexual proposition, you are free to decline that proposition. Management will not retaliate against you if you do that. However, management will come down on someone who does retaliate against you.

If you feel any pressure to do anything other than what you individually choose to do, or discomfort because of the proposition, human resources needs to know about it so management can take the appropriate corrective action. We will not retaliate against people who make complaints like that. Period.

You are all entitled to a harassment-free workplace and you are all informed here and now that management is committed to that as a bedrock ethic of our business. That is as important to us as honesty, and more important to us than profitability.

As for interactions with customers. Obviously, we want our customers to like us, we want them to do business with us. So part of your job is also to build rapport with customers. The first step in building rapport is to not offend a customer.

A really good way to offend a customer is to assume something about them that turns out not to be true. Like assuming that they are the same faith as you.

For that reason, our policy is that you are not to initiate anything religious with a customer. Ever. No matter how light or trivial you think that phrase might be. So ending a conversation with a phrase like "Have a blessed day" is not allowed, because that initiates the issue of religion.

If the customer initiates religion with you, and you are not offended, that's fine. By all means give a light reciprocation should you wish. For instance, if the customer tells you "have a blessed day," you can say -- if you wish -- "You too." But the focus of your professional interaction with the customer must be just that: professional. Remember what I said before: I haven't hired you to be an evangelist. Should you find someone with whom you have a strong religious affinity, make arrangements to religiously interact with them during your off-work hours.

If a customer gives you any unwanted religious pressure, get out of that conversation as soon as possible and then you immediately come to me with the whole story. I will personally deal with that customer from that point forward (if you wish). You will not face any retaliation whatsoever for coming to me with that problem. That is my promise to you. That goes for sex, and it goes for race, and it goes for religion. I would rather lose a customer than require an employee to endure harassment: there are always going to be more customers out there in the world, but without you, we can't do business at all.

Your personal religion is your personal business. [Business' professional activity] is what you've been hired to do by the company, and I expect you to do that, and not your personal business, while you're on company time.

I'm happy to take your questions on this subject, because it's important to me that everyone understand this.

It's unprofessional. Potentially alienating to customers. Big no no.

But, depending on the milieu, it can be a positive gimmick. Depends on the religious saturation of the customer base.

I think it's just a lousy idea. Every word out of your mouth to a customer represents your employer. Religion should have nothing to do with it.

I'm against it. Not because they are religious, but because they are assuming the customer is.
Management won't do anything about it because of the reason you stated. Christians tend to cry about being attacked for their beliefs and that they are being persecuted.
That could enable them to take legal action by trying to sue the company and anyone involved. Many dubious lawyers would jump for the chance to take such a case.

I handled a situation similar when I worked in a call center. Management was too afraid to do anything for the same reasons I stated above.
This woman, who had the mental capacity of a child because of her religious nonsense... Would talk about God and all of that nonsense on the phone with customers. (Plenty of complaints came through, which I found out about all the time because I was in good with several supervisors. But they couldn't do anything)

One day, she was standing up from where she was sitting and singing gospel. Asking other people if they went to church and where they went. If someone said that they didn't, she would start the typical Christian dribble about why you should go and why you should believe. She was even ignoring incoming calls during this time.
I asked her if she was logged in and she said that she was. I told her that it's kind of funny that everyone else is getting calls and she wasn't. A superior walked by and she heard the exchange. I told her to bump her to Tier 2 to see if that fixes the problem. (highest call volume tier)
She got slammed with calls.

About 3 days later, I had enough of the god talk on the phone so I said something to her.
I told her she needs to stick to the script because she's walking the line of being written up.
She argued with me over it, saying she had the right to express her beliefs and I layer the smackdown on her.
I barraged her with.

1. It's your job to stick to the scripts.
2. You don't know the beliefs of the person you're talking to and they can deem that offensive and file a complaint.
3. If our client decides to listen to these calls and hear you. It's going to cause major problems.

That put her in place and although management didn't approve of what I did and said.
Nothing happened to me.
I was considered the enforcer on the floor.

She quit a few months after.

My way of dealing with annoying religious sentiment is to change what people say to something I accept, such as morphing "God bless you" to "I hope the best for you!"
Or changing the word "God" in my mind to "the universe," or "my higher consciousness."

Every so often I have my own clients say those types of things to me as well. It used to disturb me a little but then I realized that they’re just being nice in their own way. I figure if someone wants their God to bless me then that’s pretty sweet. I always thank them afterwards, take their money and send them on their way.

I hear "god bless" often enough at work. I just let it slide, I know what they mean. I'm not going to make a fuss. I have a rather vested interest in being professional and keeping my job. As Grammy always told me, "Pick your battles" and "is this a hill you want to die on/"

How about responding with a "thank you" and moving to the next customer.