We rarely pay attention to spirituality or finding meaning at work. The mix of spirituality and a professional environment might seem like an unlikely match. The recent boom in wellness and mindfulness programs in the corporate world suggest otherwise. Contrary to some popular notions, being spiritual does not equate to being religious.
What is workplace spirituality?
According to Petchsawang and Duchon (2009) workplace spirituality, or spirituality at work, is having compassion towards others, experiencing a mindful inner consciousness in the pursuit of meaningful work. In simple terms, it is about finding meaning, value, and motivation in one’s work beyond salary and performance.
Nowadays, more and more organisations realise the importance of workplace spirituality. Furthermore, the fact that our work should have meaning is becoming a widespread expectation in developed countries.
What are the benefits of spirituality at work?
Spirituality is becoming one of the essential aspects of organisations, because of the many ways it improves the wellbeing of the employees and helps the company to thrive. Here are some of spirituality’s benefits:
- Increases employee productivity
- Reduces absenteeism
- Increases motivation and commitment
- Increases job satisfaction.
- Improves quality of life
- Increases employee morale
- Reduces workplace stress
- Reduces employee burnout
- Reduces employee turnover rates
- Improves work performance
These benefits highlight the importance for employers to incorporate spirituality at work.
How to encourage spirituality in the workplace?
Creating a spirituality aware workplace isn’t something that happens overnight. It is a long and slow process, and you must be patient, especially if it’s not part of the company culture to begin with.
If you are an employer, here are some steps which will help you to establish s culture of spirituality in your workplace:
- You need to define and set a clear mission and purpose on how your company will serve your clients with your products and services. Your aim should be to create a purpose which is beneficial to the improvement of society, not individuals.
- Make sure that the actions your company takes do not negatively affect other people and other companies. Set your company apart by avoiding any actions which hurt the environment.
- Hire people who understand your company’s mission and actively work according to your company’s purpose. Hiring people who are not concerned about spirituality will make it difficult to develop workplace spirituality in your company.
- Make sure all your employees are aware of your company’s purpose and mission.
- Try to promote and encourage diversity in your employees’ thoughts and ideas.
- Educate your employees in the skills of self-leadership and self-awareness. Encourage them to realise their value and self-worth.
- Encourage your employees to be more creative. Being creative helps people to become more involved in their tasks.
- Discourage fear among your employees. Spirituality can thrive only in the absence of fear.
- Foster an environment of trust in your workplace where employees can work, learn, and contribute together.
- Promote and encourage meditation and yoga among your employees. These practices help people to become more self-aware and eliminate stress.
- Get to know each of your employees individually and encourage them to learn more about each other. This will create a better work environment, boosting team morale and productivity.
- Encourage your employees to allocate time for their families, personal lives and health. Doing this will help them find happiness and have a healthy work-life balance.
Workplace spirituality is a relatively new phenomenon which is gaining importance around the world in all kind of companies. Corporations are emphasising spiritual values among their employees to help them improve their skills and personality. Also, employees realise that they can find meaning and fulfillment in their jobs. Spiritual employees offer more than better performance and productivity to companies. They create better places to work in and help companies make the world a better place in general.
