“The suits care about us”: employee perceptions of workplace chaplains

ABSTRACT

Workplace chaplaincy is an intriguing phenomenon, wherein organizations hire clergy persons to serve the social, spiritual, and psychological needs of their employees. The authors interviewed 56 employees in nine organizations to explore employee perceptions and experiences with chaplaincy. The results indicate that employees perceive chaplaincy as a demonstration of management’s care and concern for then as whole persons by having chaplains meet their work and nonwork needs. Employees report that workplace chaplains care for them in five ways: attending to their work-related issues; addressing their practical and social needs; meeting their psychotherapeutic needs; facilitating urgent care as first responders in a crisis; and providing religious or pastoral services. The study suggests that employees’ experience of such care from chaplains can be interpreted as perceived organizational support, which enhances their sense of well-being and their organizational commitment. The article concludes with recommendations for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace chaplains
• employee spirituality
• qualitative research
• religion
• employee care
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David W. Miller

David W. Miller is the director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative, as well as a lecturer and professional specialist at Princeton University. His research interest in the area of faith and work includes ethics, faith-friendly companies, workplace chaplaincy, and The Integration Profile which is a validated assessment instrument based on a theoretical model initially proposed in his book God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement (OUP, 2007). David's research is published and cited in various outlets, and he serves as advisor to CEOS and executives on issues of faith, ethics, and leadership.

Faith Wambura Ngunjiri

Faith Wambura Ngunjiri is the director of the Lorentzsen Center for Faith at Work, and associate professor of ethics and leadership at the Offutt School of Business, Concordia College. She is co-editor of Religious Diversity in the Workplace (Cambridge, 2018), Women as Global Leaders (IAP, 2014), and Women and Leadership around the World (IAP, 2015). She authored Women's Spiritual Leadership in Africa (SUNY, 2010). Her research focuses on spiritual leadership/faith at work, and on women's leadership. 

James D. Lorusso

James D. LoRusso is associate research scholar in the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative within the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. His research interests include theory and method in the study of religion, lived religion, cultural studies, and the intersection of religion and the marketplace in 20th and 21st century North America. He is the author of Spirituality, Corporate Culture, and American Business: The Neoliberal Ethic and the Spirit of Global Capital (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), which explores how American spirituality has shaped and been shaped by neoliberal capitalism.