Tim McGuire's article series on Faith, spirituality coming to workplace (NewsOK.com)

December 25, 2005
December 12, 2005
October 17, 2005

December 25, 2005

When experts talk about leadership on issues concerning spirituality in the workplace the conversation often begins with Dr. David Miller, the executive Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.

That center has made faith and work a cornerstone of its efforts to “connect the good ideas of the theological academy with issues of real life,” Miller told me in a telephone interview. He said the center is trying to build a bridge between business and church by “elevating the language on work and faith for both professionals and the laity.”

According to Miller, people feel a greater urge these days to integrate their faith life with their work life. He says while people are drawn to the faith-and-work movements for different reasons, many people are increasingly finding dissonance between their closely held faith-based values and the scandal-ridden corporate environment.

Miller says for many years the workplace spirituality movement has been under the radar, but now it is on the radar and gaining a lot of steam. “Yale’s involvement in an issue like this says volumes about its prominence,” Miller said. “There are an increasing number of books on the subject and a column like yours is a manifestation of the phenomenon.”

Some of the work being done on the subject is academic and other work is more popular in its focus. Miller says he could “probably speak at a conference a week” on subjects related to work and spirituality. He cites large membership organizations, small work/faith study groups, and prayer groups which grow out of the workplace as examples of ways the phenomenon is playing out in the public square and in workplaces.

I am increasingly finding more organizations interested in values and work, and they often start modestly. I recently did some speaking for an organization called the Oklahoma Ethics Consortium. A group of concerned business leaders, worried about the state of ethics and values, began a small study group which has grown into a three- chapter organization with considerable involvement with Oklahoma universities.

Miller’s center has been a key mover behind the national chaplaincy movement I wrote about several weeks ago and again last week. Miller says “workplace chaplaincy is an important manifestation of the work and faith movement.” He adds, “It is not the right fit for every workplace and it is not a silver bullet, but when implemented correctly in the right places we are seeing extraordinary outcomes.”

I asked Miller the question I face often and find so difficult to explain: Is faith in the workplace just a disguise for advancing Christianity in the workplace?” Miller says it is a good question, “but the question is a red herring; it presupposes a narrow understanding of living out one's faith at work. The movement is largely about advancing ethical practices and treating people well rather than promoting a certain religious doctrine.”

Miller insists we make the issue more complicated than it needs to be. “We can allow someone at work to be authentically Jewish or authentically Christian without allowing anyone to get a de facto edge to facilitate advancement.” He says a good proprietor must encourage faith-filled approaches to work without showing prejudice or suppression.

I agree with Miller. In the early days many practitioners called their efforts “spirituality in the workplace,” but they were really interested in proselytizing Christianity. I see far less of that now. Most proprietors I encounter who are interested in ethics, values and spirituality understand allowing each individual to pursue their own path to finding something greater in work is crucial. Most are coming to understand they can help some employees find greater faith in meaning at work while others find no merit in spirituality.

Tolerance for non-believers has become an essential part of spirituality in the workplace.

December 12, 2005

I admit I seldom can predict which of these columns will spark interest and which will induce incredible quiet. A column I wrote on the workplace chaplaincy movement prompted significant response from people interested in knowing more about the movement. And, it ticked off some folks who think religion ought to keep its nose far away from the workplace. The interest encouraged me to find an active practitioner.

Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, is a company with strong core values, and one which bills itself as a “faith friendly workplace.” Gary Mickelson, Director of Corporate Media Relations, proudly says, ‘we do not expect our employees to park their faith at the door.” Corporate chaplaincy is an important part of the company’s commitment to that value.

Allan Tyson (no relation) has been the Director of Chaplaincy Services at Tyson Foods for five years. He presides over a network of 127 chaplains serving 78 facilities across the country. Most of the chaplains are part-time and they match the demographics of the plants. Most are Christian, but there are some chaplains of other faiths, including Muslim Imams. Allan Tyson encourages his chaplains to minister “beyond their own faith.”

He says his chaplain group is attempting to make the workplace more appealing to employees. The program is seen as an essential part of employee retention. Tyson is convinced it can help employees be more successful in their work. He says chaplains deal with all aspects of faith--personal and plant-wide. They assist employees with parenting, health and grief issues. They also get involved in drug and alcohol problems facing employees or family members of employees.

A crucial part of the chaplain role is what Allan Tyson calls a “ministry of presence and availability.” Tyson says the chaplains make it a point to wander the plant floor, hang out in cafeterias and concentrate on being visible. He says his chaplains are usually viewed as “safe persons.” He has found Human Resources deals with fewer “personal issues” when a chaplain is present in a facility.

Tyson Foods is one of the nation’s largest suppliers of meat and poultry products. A lot of the work done in their plants involves rendering and packaging animals to create food you eat at your dinner table. It can be dirty, difficult work, but the company is intent on preserving employees’ dignity and respect. It does that by attending to people’s spiritual and social needs and by attempting to supply meaning for workers. Rather than focusing on cutting up dead chickens, Tyson Foods preaches to employees they are a crucial part of the corporate mission “to feed the world.”

Allan Tyson is not shy about voicing his concern that organized churches have let many people down by failing to help them understand their jobs as being full of meaning and purpose. He believes the pastors who work as workplace chaplains revitalize their organized church ministries when they better come to understand the link between their chaplaincy work and their church tasks.

Tyson and the company are very conscious of the concerns many people have about imposing organized religion on people who do not want it or might practice different beliefs. Tyson says, “We tell our chaplains they are not in the plants to “do” church. They are there to “be” church.”

Chaplaincy programs are not the beginning or the end, but they do seem to offer employees searching for a connection between their work and spiritual search a viable way to discover that link. It is a movement employers need to study and take seriously.

October 17, 2005

Glenn Horstman’s office was always right next to an outside entrance so nobody in the Human Resources department could see his visitors. With slick-backed hair, the fidgets befitting the recovering alcoholic that he was, and a demeanor that screamed “I’ve seen it all, buddy, you ain’t gonna surprise me,” Horstman was the perfect employee assistance director in the early 80’s before he retired.

Confidentiality was his currency. Nobody was supposed to see who visited him and he kept no notes. He had personally struggled with practically every problem an employee might encounter. He wasn’t a refined “suit,” and his most important degree was the one from the school of hard knocks. He was a quietly confident guy with unquestioned integrity who knew how much hurt employees could feel. He could just as easily call a phony a phony and he despised whiners, complainers and victims. That made him THE person employees and management could trust. Employees knew he would find them help and would never betray them. Executives knew if Glenn told them something they were taking a huge risk if they ignored him.

There were countless Glenn Horstmans across America, employee assistance counselors who made every relationship meaningful, confidential and focused only on finding solutions. But employee assistance became corporatized in the 90’s. Health insurance, concerns about privacy and the bottom line made many employee assistance programs appear distant, impersonal and numbers-focused. Simultaneously, many human resource departments were perceived as “management” and less trustworthy. Employees had fewer places to go for help. We lost something dear when that happened.

Cut to the present. Kristin Evenson can charm fish out of water with her 10 million watt smile. She’s an experienced businesswoman who dealt with some of the country’s largest companies. Evenson, the founder of LifeWork Corporate Care in Minneapolis, is now intent upon promoting corporate chaplaincy into today’s challenged workplaces.

Her passionate description of how workplace chaplains are “confidential, accessible and available” resonated for me. She explained that confidentially is crucial, but so is the actual presence of a chaplain. Evenson is convinced the need for chaplains is more urgent because of the short-term financial orientation of so many companies. She worries the instability of work forces increases the need for the kind of guidance chaplains can offer. She cites numbers which show disengagement and absenteeism are rising.

Evenson surprised me when she said in addition to those problems productivity is suffering because so many employees are seeking greater meaning and purpose. Since I advocate for such meaning I was ready to argue with her until she explained that when employees lack that sense of deeper meaning and purpose their engagement with their job is undermined. She believes ecumenical chaplains are part of the answer.

As Evenson decried the lack of an actual person representing employee interests in so many employee assistance programs, I could not help but think of Glenn Horstman. He would have laughed at the suggestion he was a chaplain, but in many ways he was. Evenson sees the similarity, but says the difference between Glenn and chaplains is “the employee assistance person can get help for the employee. The chaplain provides help.”

Evenson is convinced the spiritually oriented people she can supply to companies as chaplains will provide the safe harbor employees need in troubled workplaces. Thank goodness somebody can replace the wonderful contributions all those Glenn Horstmans made many years ago.