FEATURE ARTICLE
October 2004

Spirituality in American Careers and Workplaces
by Peter Jacobs

In an article in its June 2003 issue, Workforce Management magazine proposes 25 trends that will change the way we do business. Number 19 on the list is "Spirituality at Work." According to Harriet Hankin, president of CGI Consulting in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Americans are increasingly looking for spiritual comfort in a culture in which they eat too much, spend too much money, are obese and in debt, and are worried about personal safety and job security in light of both 9/11 and the economic downturn of the last few years. She states that "the biggest change in the workplace is the interest in spirituality. It’s about doing the right thing. It’s not about religion. It’s about job satisfaction. Jobs in the future will have to be more meaningful. Pay won’t be as important as a good job."

As more and more people take a step back from their careers – either by choice or by virtue of losing their jobs, spirituality is assuming an ever-greater role in career exploration and decision-making. Increasingly, people living beyond the poverty level are no longer willing to settle for a work space and a paycheck. They yearn to express their own unique natures – as expressed in their values, talents, abilities, and creativity - and to challenge themselves to become and do what they’re capable of.

A Fortune magazine cover story from July 2001 reports a "growing quest for spiritual renewal in the workplace." This quest has manifested itself in a number of ways, including:

• Increased company dedication to programs that "take care" of employees, such as tuition reimbursement for career-related courses, cross-training opportunities, online career development tools and resources, and training and education based on employee goals.
  
• Internal company initiatives around volunteering in the community, such as the Intel Involved program, in which employees are encouraged to improve the quality of life in their communities by participating in a wide range of projects including teaching computer applications, environmental projects, painting and refurbishing community buildings, assisting with youth and senior citizen groups and assisting local charities.
  
• Employee groups that provide ways to meet new people, explore other cultures, and celebrate diversity, such as an African-American employee organization, a group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, or a Christian bible-study group.
  
• Off-site groups that allow opportunities for spiritual sustenance and grappling with questions such as: How can business promote family life? What is a just wage? When are layoffs justified?
  
• Independent lunchtime study groups from various religions (there is a Jewish study group comprised of business people that meets regularly in the Financial District in San Francisco).
  
• Lecture series, such as one called Faith@Work organized by the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.

A good part of this resurgence seems to be driven by the baby-boomer generation. As its members turn 50 and reach the top of their careers, many are asking "What’s it all about Alfie?" Or as one executive put it at a conference on spirituality at work, "You get to the top of the ladder and find that maybe it’s leaning against the wrong building." This trend it not about deploying spirituality or religion in the work place or about business ethics. It is about going beyond minimum obligation and actively seeking ways to make the world a better place in the course of doing one’s job or running a company.

Management interest in questions of meaning and satisfaction in the workplace is also motivated by financial considerations. According to an article in the February 2002 issue of the Gallup Management Journal, roughly 16 percent of adult workers in the US consider themselves to be "actively disengaged" and another 55 percent consider themselves to be simply "not engaged" at work. Gallup estimated that the lower productivity of actively disengaged workers penalizes US economic performance by about $300 billion, a figure nearly equal to the nation’s defense budget at the time of the survey. When compared with all other workers, this cost reflects the fact that actively disengaged workers report more days of work missed (3.5 more days per person per year) and more days of work missed for illness (0.55 days per person).

Gallup opines that great workplaces:

• identify the strengths of all employees and use this knowledge to hire people into jobs where they can use their favorite talents more often and more effectively;
  
• hire great managers who are passionate about helping others discover their talents, are willing to place employees in roles that stretch them, and are willing to reward them for world-class performance; and
  
• foster an environment that encourages employees to become more engaged and passionate about their roles.

One example of such an organization is Southwest Airlines, whose slogan is "the airline that love built." Herb Kelleher, founder and chairman of Southwest Airlines, sees passion as a company currency. In Leader to Leader, Kelleher writes, "We try not to hire people who are humorless, self-centered, or complacent, so when they come to work, we want them, not their corporate clones."

The passion of employees at Southwest can be seen in the way they engage with one another and with their customers. I’ve personally been on a number of flights on Southwest where the sense of humor of the crew has shown through from check-in through to the pithy announcement congratulating the pilot on his smooth landing after the plane bounced hard on reaching the runway. The author of the article in the Gallup Management Journal tells the story of an instance in which a flight attendant comforted a distraught, unaccompanied young traveler by using her own credit card to allow the child to telephone her grandparents, who would be picking her up when the flight arrived. This level of dedication is certainly a major factor in attracting and retaining the customers who help make Southwest one of the few profitable airlines in the US market.

Stephen Schoonover, MD and Nicholas Weiler, authors of Your Soul at Work, have discovered in their research that most people’s souls want four things from their work:

• to love their jobs and find jobs they love
  
• to succeed in their work
  
• to navigate successfully through predictable life stage transitions
  
• to tie their work to a higher life purpose that has personal meaning for them.

Clearly, both individuals and the companies that employ them have a role to play in building workplaces and career opportunities that are both engaging and spiritually fulfilling.

Peter Jacobs, of Global Career Coaching, helps professionals figure out what they want to do with their careers and to effectively market themselves either as prospective employees or independent service providers. For more information about Peter and his ezine, The Bottom Line, visit http://www.gccoach.com.