'Don't microwave sausage rolls': New guidelines issued on what not to do in work kitchens

Workplaces urged to serve certified Halal and kosher food at corporate events

A new guideline on etiquette for communal work kitchens is to be suggested to employers.

The advice, put forward by a professor of faith and public policy at Goldsmith’s University in London, stipulates that employees should be careful of the kinds of foods prepared in communal kitchens in case it upsets colleagues of certain faiths.

Professor Adam Dinham suggests not microwaving sausage rolls in a shared kitchen space. He also advises that you should not keep bacon, or bacon rolls, in the fridge if it is shared with people whose beliefs prohibit them from eating pork.

The guidelines go on to suggest that employers should serve certified Halal and kosher food at corporate events, and consider whether or not alcohol should be served.

Professor Dinham says of the scheme: “We have lost the ability to talk about religious belief because of a century of secular assumptions, and most religious belief is either highly visible and we don’t recognise it, or it’s invisible and we miss it entirely.”

He also said that when implementing the new guidelines, employers should consider new religions and cults, including Scientology, and beliefs such as veganism and vegetarianism, as well as the more mainstream faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

The programme was commissioned by inter-faith group CoExist House and is set to be presented to employers by EY, an Nprofessionals services firm.