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.
