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This research aims to explain, in the secular French context, the intention of managers to accommodate religious expression at work (REW) when they are not obliged to do so. This paper seeks to understand the determinants of managerial positions on REW. Building on previous studies on how organisations and managers deal with religious expression, this research seeks to extend the evidence on this important aspect of managerial behaviour in relation to accommodating REW.

The hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in diversity management (N = 151 French managers). This method highlights attitudinal and organisational determinants favourable to the intent to accommodate.

The present research provides new insight by identifying two main direct factors affecting managers' accommodation, namely, organisational flexibility (flexible hours, autonomy) and perceived consequences (advantages, disadvantages) and one indirect factor, religiosity. In line with the contradictions within diversity management, the perceived consequences are ambivalent and highly context dependent. One issue to explore is that managers seek to deal with religious expression by making it invisible.

In the French context, the explanatory social norm might not be “religiosity” but rather “perceived secularity”. The authors recommend that future studies use qualitative methods with interviews and photo elicitation to extend this first study. Indeed, the complexity of the managerial position requires an in-depth understanding of managers' attitudes and behaviours with regard to religion. How do managers apply a common ground strategy and create unity despite differences? Is the desire to make arrangements invisible with a view to inclusive neutrality specific to France, or can it be generalised to managers in other countries? Does the intention to accommodate not essentially depend on the manager-employee relationship dynamic? This research raises questions for scholars about the relationship with the other and ethical managerial conduct.

France is a secular country where a debate is emerging on cases of discrimination due to REW. The results contribute to approaches to drafting company guidelines for managers and may help organisations anticipate the risks associated with REW. The discussion of the results reveals the importance of social norms in the sense of hypernorms (religiosity) and undoubtedly of secularism, nondiscrimination and gender equality in the decision-making process on accommodation. These inclusive norms should therefore be handled with care in the various guidelines that have been developed.

REW is increasing but is a neglected dimension of diversity management. This study helps explore this new field by promoting an understanding of managers' intention to accommodate in a specific secular context.

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, human resource management (HRM) has entered into a somewhat strained relationship with religious diversity. In France, the need to deal with demands for recognition of faith practices has led to the compilation of new guides to the management of religious diversity. Is religious identity a new dimension of HRM in France?

The paper begins with an examination of some examples of these documents produced by large French companies. It is revealed that they contain a set of recommendations leading to differential management of the various religious identities.

Incorporating such a practice into an HRM strategy is a mixed blessing, bringing with it both hopes and risks. On the one hand, it may help to maintain equality and boost firms’ economic performance. On the other hand, however, it may also compromise group cohesion and disrupt social ties.

In view of these contradictory tendencies, the paper concludes by asking whether the principle of secularism should be extended to the management of HR.

Religious expression at work (REW) has a unique place in France. The authors studied the perception of the postures of four organizations in the face of this phenomenon, focusing on the gap between official posture and the posture applied by managers.

Using a qualitative approach, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews (40), observation periods and documentary analysis within four organizations. This multiple embedded case study was undertaken in four different firms in France: an international private firm, a public organization, and two small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with original models of REW management.

A distinction between aligned and non-aligned postures emerged. There was a lack of alignment in only two of the four organizations, and this alignment concerned only two units of analysis: prayer on break and wearing religious symbols. Several extrinsic factors were identified in this lack of alignment between the official posture and the posture actually applied by managers: the form of REW, the religion concerned and whether it had minority status in the country, the degree of clarity of the official posture, the degree of formalization of the official posture, the size and scope of the company, the degree of awareness of managers and their teams, the degree of involvement of leaders in the definition and implementation of the posture, and the purpose of the official posture.

This research provides a sensitive understanding of religious expression at work and shows that alignment is sought specifically for each form of REW. The distinction between official posture and applied posture is highlighted through the study of perceptions. In addition, this study enables the identification of factors that influence the alignment of official and operational postures.

These results call for clarity of the official posture and for it to be defended by leaders, provision of meaning to postures by raising awareness among intermediate hierarchical lines, understanding of the applicable legal framework to transpose it to the local level, and analysis of unaligned forms of REW to build a strong, shared posture.

This study, which was carried out within a specific French context, concerns areas that have received little attention or have not been studied at all to date, such as REW in SMEs or in the public sector, and demonstrates for the first time the distinction between official postures and effective postures.

Because I want the next generation of women to be set free from the birdcage of racial, gender and class stereotypes, a place from which my mother, grandmothers and great grandmothers never had the chance to escape, it is a personal and political choice to rupture the experiences of racial prejudice that bind us into phobic races within various shades of hatred. I am both digging a new place to find “truth” and criticizing an essential part of who I am or what I was taught to believe about our black and indigenous heritage. An epiphanic moment combines past, present and future moments into an act of doing and becoming. In honoring the first “queen” in my family, I wrote the following non-fiction children's story about my great grandmother Bernarda in three languages. Although I have never seen a picture of Bernarda, I feel her Chibcha blood burning inside of me and within every awkward phrase that I piece together as I fumble through grammatical structures, reviving memories into performative language. I wrote the first draft in English and later translated it into French and Spanish.