Spiritual Practice in Workplace

After more than 35 years of exposure to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws, employers in the United States are struggling to understand and effectively deal with the challenges of employee rights and needs in the workplace. The workplace of the early 21st century is a much more diverse and dynamic environment than that visualized by legislative crafters of EEO laws. Though religion was addressed in the original laws, the primary focus was accommodation for religious observances outside the workplace. However, technology, global competition, downsizing, and reengineering have created a workforce of employees seeking value, support, and meaning in their lives that finds expression not only at home but also on the job. This search for religious and spiritual meaning in the workplace is a departure from the more traditional business mentality of '"power, profit, and takeovers, where religion was something saved for the Sabbath day." Greater spiritual and religious accommodation has become a source for achieving that meaning and support.

Legal interpretations have historically required that employees requesting religious accommodation meet certain tests relative to the sincerity and meaningfulness of their belief. The practice of spirituality through meditation, visioning, or spiritual contemplation has become increasingly prevalent in the United States work environment and has remained less controversial and less subject to regulation as an employee rights issue than formal religion. Those practicing formal religion want the same opportunities and rights provided to employees who practice spirituality. This article investigates the current state of religious and spiritual practice in business organizations and discusses the impact of employment law on such activity. We offer a broad and inclusive interpretation of religious and spiritual belief relevant to the workplace and provide a framework of analysis in addressing accommodation concerns.

Business periodicals are filled with articles heralding both the renewed interest in religion and the growing emphasis on spirituality in society in general and in the workplace. Religious and spiritual materials that include new age, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim publications were the fastest growing segment in adult publishing for 1996 and 1997. Religious radio stations have quadrupled over the past 25 years, while religious television shows increased fourfold in the 1980s. Corporate chaplains who number in the thousands represent a booming industry, and careers related to spirituality and counselling in the workplace continue to gain in importance.

The causes cited for this stirring of religion and spirituality in the workplace are numerous; however, many authors point to a growing diversity in the general population and in the workplace as a major factor. One aspect of this growing diversity has been the dramatic increase in the various types of formal and informal religious and spiritual expression practiced by members of the workforce. More than 1,500 primary religious organizations were represented in the United States in 1998. While 90 percent of the Britain population is Christian, there are growing numbers of Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu British, and Islam may soon supplant Judaism as the second largest faith.

Background

Spurred by years of downsizing and job insecurity, employees in the United States are at the forefront of a grassroots movement that is quietly creating a spiritual revival in the workplace. Religion and spirituality--normally taboo in corporate London--are suddenly on the agenda as employees search for more meaning at work and as business leaders seek more socially responsible approaches to business and new ways to motivate and inspire workers. The spirituality movement seems to be a reaction to the corporate greed of the 1980s. A religious scholar believes the environment, corporate responsibility, and spiritual movements all got a big boost after the 80s because people were unhappy. They were making money, but their personal values had to be checked at the door. Some left the corporate world; others stayed and said they would bring their values to work. Statistics from the Gallup Organization in New York appear to support such claims. In 1998, when Gallup asked 800 Britain’s whether their jobs had influenced their spiritual lives, 33 percent credited work with "greatly improving" or "improving" their spirituality, suggesting the nation's interest in matters of faith has transcended church and home and entered the workplace (D. Lewis 2001).

Those who write about spirituality in the workplace do not always agree on what the term means. Many authors associate it with religion. Webster's defines spirituality as "of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit; of or relating to sacred matters;