2005 National Conference on Workplace Chaplaincy: Hot Issues and Best Practices
In collaboration with Tyson Foods, Inc., the Yale Center for Faith & Culture recently hosted (August 17–19, 2005) a national conference at Yale Divinity School entitled Workplace Chaplaincy: Hot Issues and Best Practices. This event was designed to provide a forum for exchanging ideas on how best to promote and design chaplaincy programs in business and workplace settings, as well address many of the issues regularly faced by chaplains and the organizations that utilize them. Chaplaincy is usually thought of in military, hospitals, and prison settings, yet this conference highlighted the growing interest in and presence of chaplains in business and other commercial settings. This first-of-its kind event drew 120 attendees from a diverse range of backgrounds, occupations, and faiths — including Christians, Jews, and a Muslim — with slightly more businesspeople in attendance than chaplains and other religious leaders.

Included among the variety of speakers was John Tyson, Chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods; Robert Pettus, Jr., Vice Chairman of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated; Tim Embry, CEO of American LubeFast; attorneys Dudley Rochelle and Bryan Riley; Gil Stricklin, CEO and President of Marketplace Chaplains USA; and Mark Cress, CEO and President of Corporate Chaplains of America.

Both Tyson and Pettus spoke about the positive impact of having chaplains serve in public companies. While measuring the tangible, monetary benefits of chaplaincy programs can prove difficult, both agreed that the programs were huge successes. After a nine month study, Coca-Cola Bottling concluded that their newly introduced chaplaincy program contributed to improvements in morale, productivity, safety, and quality. Indeed, the program was so beneficial that some employees offered to accept a reduction of benefits if that were necessary to keep the chaplaincy program afloat. Tyson focused less on the empirical assessment, and more on creating an environment of “permission” to allow employees to live a “holistic” life at work. Moreover, workplace chaplains fill a need when employees face personal crises and have no one else to turn to for help. Both Tyson and Pettus saw chaplains as filling a need that Human Relations departments and Employee Assistant Programs often find it difficult, if not impossible, to serve. As CEO of a smaller, private company, Embry also believes that the introduction of a chaplaincy program into his business has served to increase profit and reduce loss. However, like many, Embry began his program because “as a steward of a business, I thought I should do something to help these guys [his employees] be better when they leave.”

David Miller, Executive Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, spoke and, in the spirit of the conference, emphasized that companies that introduce chaplaincy programs should make clear to their employees that the goal of the company is to be “faith-friendly,” as opposed to “faith-based.” By doing so, companies can allay the fears of employees who may see chaplains as a covert attempt by the company to proselytize. At its core, a faith-friendly policy is about honoring employee’s desire to live integrated lives, where they do not have to hide their spiritual side, and respecting the many faith traditions represented in companies today. Being a faith-friendly employer is another way of helping employees overcome what many refer to as the “Sunday-Monday gap.”

As one might expect when introducing faith into the workplace, there are legal questions to be considered and addressed. Rochelle and Riley discussed several of these, in particular issues of religious harassment — by companies and by employees — and how to prevent such problems from occurring. As heads of chaplaincy companies, Gil Stricklin (CEO and President of Marketplace Chaplains USA) and Mark Cress (CEO and President of Corporate Chaplains of America) reported on their respective experiences as chaplains and offered advice on what it takes to be effective chaplain. Stricklin particularly sought to underscore the idea of chaplains acting as everyday “Good Samaritans.” Amongst other things, both stressed the importance of chaplain confidentiality.

In recognition of the fact that workplace chaplains both address and are from many different faith traditions and ethnicities, there was also a panel discussion to consider many of the attendant issues. On this panel, moderated by Dr. George Handzo, Clinical Director for Healthcare Chaplaincy, Inc., was Naomi Paget, Chaplain for the F.B.I.; Sister Francis Rivers, Chaplain for Tyson Foods; Rabbi Shira Stern, Treasurer of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains; Imam Yusuf Hasan, Chaplain of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and Janet Anderson, Chaplain of the ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University of British Columbia, Canada. Paget once again reminded the audience of the importance of chaplain confidentiality. However, she also noted that certain cases may require disclosure or else chaplains become “silent accomplices” to wrongdoing. Rivers, who works mostly with immigrants, readily acknowledged the importance of confidentiality, but also the complications that can arise, especially in the cases of illegal immigrants. Furthermore, Rivers, citing influential Latin American theologians, argued for a “theology of accompaniment” when working with immigrants, a theology which stresses equality and hospitality. Both Hasan and Stern reminded a largely Christian audience of the need to recognize and remember the religious diversity that exists in America and in the workplace. Alongside this factual acknowledgment, they argued, comes the obligation to learn about these other faiths and to strive to make one’s organization “faith friendly,” which includes being respectful of all faith traditions. Stern argued that employers need to move beyond merely “tolerating” religious diversity in the workplace to more wholeheartedly “accepting” it. Successfully accomplishing this involves, amongst other things, providing time off for religious holidays rather than forcing employees to use vacation time for them. Anderson noted that Canada faces some different challenges than the United States workplace, as it has vast ethnic and religious diversity, yet at the same time is an increasingly secular society. She has experimented with a variety of methods to create not only an ecumenical environment but a thoroughly “accepting” one.

In addition to these plenary meetings, there were also smaller elective sessions which focused not only on workplace chaplaincy but also on the broader issue of workplace spirituality. Those discussing approaches to workplace chaplaincy (i.e. to manage the program internally or to subcontract it to external chaplaincy providers) were Chaplain Ralph Atkinson of Chaplains Associates, Inc.; Chaplain John Hornsby of Zachry Construction, Inc.; Chaplains Gil Stricklin and Mark Cress; and Chaplain Alan Tyson alongside Ken Kimbro and Larry Hopkins from Tyson Foods. With regard to approaches to workplace spirituality, five elective sessions were offered. Chaplain Peter Friedrichs of Business Chaplaincy Services spoke on how organizations might use the “covenant group” model in order to build a sense of community at an organization and thereby increase employee retention. David Trickett, founder and President of the Jefferson Circle, offered practical advice to those currently using chaplaincy programs and to those considering using them on how to make such programs most effective. Liz Budd Ellmann, Executive Director of Spiritual Directors International, centered her talk on helping to alleviate the “Sunday-Monday gap,” the all-too-common phenomenon of feeling that the spiritual connection made during the weekend at church/synagogue/mosque is — and must be — lost during the work week. Independent management consultant Marguerite Robbins offered a “best practice” model incorporating sixteen holistic values and behaviors to help organization deal effectively with religious pluralism and with the controversial issue of workplace evangelism. Lastly, Dorie Griggs of the Centre for Faith and Journalism, sought to underscore the need for chaplains in the newsroom, citing the fact that journalists who cover tragic events suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders at the same rate as firefighters, police officers, and disaster relief workers.

Throughout the conference, there were several recurring issues. Five in particular were quite prominent. First, as noted, there were questions about the potential legal ramifications of installing and utilizing a chaplaincy program in the workplace. In particular, questions of inappropriate proselytizing, possible harassment, and disruption to the business must be considered and addressed. At its core is the challenge chaplains face to be, on the one hand, authentic and true to the teachings of their own faith, while on the other hand being respectful to those from other (or no) faith traditions. Second, there was the question of whether to create a chaplaincy program internal to the organization or to hire chaplains externally from a third-party source. Naturally, both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. For example, while internal chaplaincy programs allow for greater control and consistency between the company’s goals and the chaplains, externally sourced programs allow for greater independence between the chaplains and the companies. Third, regardless of whether internal or external chaplains are used, many businesses want to make clear that they were not attempting to compete with local religious organizations, such as churches and synagogues. Workplace chaplains should not use the companies they serve as recruiting grounds for their congregations. Fourth, as noted earlier, there is the question of how best to measure the success of chaplaincy programs, in terms of typical cost/benefit assessments. More foundationally, the question is also raised of whether the success of these programs can in fact be measured, given the often intangible nature of the benefits. Fifth, with the proliferation of chaplains and chaplaincy programs, it was often wondered whether there needs to be some sort of accreditation procedure by which to achieve consistency among the chaplains. It was these questions, among many others, that will hopefully continue to provoke much study and careful thought in all those interested in workplace chaplaincy.

Comments by the attendees suggest that the conference was quite successful in achieving its primary goals: providing people interested in chaplaincy issues with a forum for an exchange of ideas, challenging preconceived notions about workplace chaplaincy — what it is and what it should do, and generating enthusiasm for continued development. According to the feedback surveys, attendees rated the event very favorably, scoring 4.56 on a scale of 5.0. Yet the conference also raised as many questions as it answered, as it pointed to the wide spectrum of views and approaches to workplace chaplaincy. This will be a fertile area for further study and theological reflection.


Speakers
Mark Cress CEO & President, Corporate Chaplains of America, Inc.
Tim Embry CEO, American LubeFast, Inc.
George Handzo Director of Clinical Services, The Healthcare Chaplaincy
David Miller Executive Director, Yale Center for Faith & Culture
Naomi Paget Chaplain, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Robert Pettus, Jr. Vice Chairman, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated
Bryan Riley Attorney, Tyson Foods, Inc.
Sister Francis Rivers Chaplain, Tyson Foods, Inc.
Dudley Rochelle Attorney, Littler, Mendelson
Gil Stricklin CEO & President, Marketplace Ministries, Inc.
Alan Tyson Chaplain, Tyson Foods, Inc.
John Tyson Chairman & CEO, Tyson Foods, Inc.

Sponsors
This conference is made possible by the generous support and primary sponsorship of Tyson Foods, Inc. As the nation’s largest producer of protein products, Tyson Foods is also one of the country’s largest corporate users of workplace chaplains.

In addition, Marketplace Ministries, Inc. and Corporate Chaplains of America are lending support as Platinum Partnering Sponsors, and Chaplains Associates, Inc. is a Silver Partnering Sponsor.

Yale University and the Yale Center for Faith & Culture greatly appreciate these sponsors’ support for this conference. However, neither Yale nor YCFC is thereby endorsing any sponsor’s products or services.