Spirituality At Work – The Next Frontier of Workplace Wellbeing?

Depending on where you are in the world as you read this, the invitation to consider spirituality in the workplace may seem either foolhardy or prosaic.  Some readers may already enjoy places of prayer and meditation in their place of work while for others the topic may seem fraught with human and indeed potentially legal problems.

But as we continue to live with various forms of Covid -19 and changes in our work patterns, it is clear that people across the globe are looking for something more from their work than a pay cheque.  The workplace offers us the opportunity to use the repetitious nature of our daily tasks to practise these values and in doing so, to grow ourselves and our institutions to be more compassionate and collective in nature.

The Existential Exit

“The Great Resignation” is a recently coined phrase which refers to the huge surge of people who are looking to change jobs as they either return to the workplace or continue to work from home.  Some of this surge has been led by women who bore the brunt of childcare responsibilities during lockdown and still struggle to balance work and home responsibilities.  But for many, lockdown has provided the opportunity to review what is important to life.  For some, there were positive changes as many people were able to return home to be near ageing parents, or move to more regional workplaces offering them perhaps more space to raise families or to enjoy more close-knit communities.  For others, lockdown highlighted what was lacking in their lives, such as work-life balance, meaning, a sense of purpose or congruence with personal values.  And for so many, if not most, the busyness of work is simply overwhelming.  It feels like someone else’s priorities.

Much has been written about “Millennials”, and Generations  “X”, Y” and  “Z”.  As they have entered the workforce they have shown themselves to demand more from their work, and in many cases to value meaning in their work over higher pay.  Companies have moved with this tide of thought and improved their “Corporate Social Responsibility” by contributing to local and global good causes, by decreasing their environmental footprint and other initiatives.  But this is just our first baby steps towards the spiritual workplace.

Over recent years there has been a surge of academic interest in spirituality.  This research has tended to separate the concept of “spirituality” from “religiosity”, taking the former to mean how an individual experiences their place in the world and where they find meaning, purpose and for some, a sense of the sacred.  “Religiosity”, on the other hand, is understood as the teachings and dogma of the various world faiths.  For the religious, spirituality is part of how they live and experience their faith, while for the “Spiritual but Not Religious” individual (SBNR), spirituality involves a more personally arrived at world view.  “Spirituality”, therefore, is the common link between people within and outside of the various faith traditions.

It is important to note, that unlike theistic world religions, the term “Spirituality” does not have to include a belief in a Higher Power.  A person’s spirituality can have a few dimensions to it which may or may not include belief in a Higher Power.  But all of these dimensions can be relevant to the world of work;

1. Inner Life Spirituality: learning to change from the busyness and rush of everyday life, to find a calmer mental space.  From this calm perspective we are more easily able to tune in to our gut feelings, or what some might call our “inner voice”.  This “voice” can point us in the direction of what is truly meaningful to us, most authentically true to ourselves.  It is a more macro, wider lens perspective on our life, a sort of “bird’s eye view”, which can help us to connect to what brings us meaning and joy, and for some, to connect us to the sacred.  This is the kind of big picture thinking we might do for business projects on management away days or in “Think Tanks”, yet so rarely do for our precious lives.
2. Inter- Personal Spirituality: When we begin to recognise that everyone needs to find meaning in what they do, we can be careful to avoid giving others seemingly pointless or thankless tasks.  We improve our ability to listen to other peoples’ perspectives, not as a pretence of listening but as an equally valued view (even if it’s one we don’t like!).  We see ourselves as responsible for not adding stress or burdens on others and learn to practise compassion when it is a challenge.  We become aware of the effects of our own emotions on how we communicate and interact.  We make decisions with a wider lens on the Greater Good. Being of service to others is prioritised.
3. Environmental Spirituality:   Spirituality is about relationship and in this aspect of spiritual life, we become aware of our relationship with our environment(s), our local community, society, humanity and the natural world.  We might expand our thinking to include the responsibilities as well as rights of each of us towards the environment, and design workplaces that serve the Greater Good, beyond token monetary contributions towards charity, sporadic “Walk to Work” days etc.  The very nature of our goods and services comes to have some benefit over and above profit.  We experience an increased sense of awe for “everyday” things.
4. Transcendent Spirituality:  Belief in a Higher Power, God or Ultimate Truth.  Most people associate spirituality with belief in a transcendent Higher Power but for many, these beliefs are vague and often difficult for the individual to share or describe.  But for those who do hold such beliefs, vague or otherwise, faith offers an answer to questions about why we are here, how we should live and what happens after death, and in doing so offers a sense of meaning and purpose, and an over-arching “scaffold” around which everyday life is built.  In the workplace, transcendent beliefs can be of huge emotional support in difficult times, can act as a moral guide in decision making and behaviour, and access to that macro lens and sense of direction in life.

No matter what changes we make in how we work after, or alongside Covid-19, the world of work will continue to be a mainstay of our lives.  Work offers us a sense of meaning and opportunities for social connection, but it is also too often a source of stress.  Using the workplace as our practice ground for the spiritual values that we choose to prioritise can help to ease the strain on the individual, lessen our role in causing stress to others, nurture commonly held values and guide the self-knowledge needed for a more compassionate world.

“Our task is to look at the world and see it whole”

~ E.F. Schumacher