What can a Workplace Chaplain offer a business?
What could a workplace chaplain offer to your business? You have probably never thought of it, but the churches have been providing chaplains in industry, commerce and the public sector since soon after the Second World War.
They continued the work of the armed forces chaplains whom many people had met during the war. General Bernard Montgomery, one of the great allied commanders, said, “The most important people in the army are the nursing sisters and the padres (chaplains): the sisters because they tell the men they matter to us and the padres because they tell the men they matter to God.”
A good workplace chaplain will be giving people the same sense that they matter today. It will often be by simple appreciation, and by giving them our time, as we listen to their stories, hearing of their hopes and aspirations, their worries and concerns. Sometimes we may simply tell people when they are doing a good job. Companies may provide employee assistance programmes, trained counsellors may be available, and people’s colleagues may be very supportive, but the chaplain is often the presence which encourages, or the voice of affirmation that we all need to hear. Chaplaincy is based on regular visits, as a result of which the chaplain becomes well known. Mostly the conversations will be routine, but once trust is established, it opens opportunities for engage in a deeper way.
You could sum it up in one word: dignity. It includes people feeling that they have worth and value. It can be found in work, family life, voluntary roles and church life. For people of faith, it is an inherent part of our humanity, founded on our being created by God in his image. In the Christian tradition, we have the words of Jesus, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
In essence, to be treated with dignity is about being considered worthy of respect. Certain situations affirm us and bring out a clear, conscious sense of our own dignity: when we receive praise or promotions at work, when we see our children succeed, when we see a volunteer effort pay off and change our neighbourhood for the better. We feel a sense of dignity when our own lives produce value for ourselves and others. Put simply, to feel dignified, one must feel a sense of worth to others. It helps to be appreciated.
Sadly, for many people, the sense of dignity and worth has been in marked and continuous decline. Many traditional industries, around which strong communities were formed, are a thing of the past. Some tasks are subcontracted, meaning that people may feel less of a stake in the success of the business. Unemployment and material poverty have contributed to a lack of purpose and personal value. Government austerity policies, with changes to the benefit system, have all too often suggested that people are liabilities to be managed rather than human beings with inherent dignity and worth, individuals with potential that can be developed, people who have a right to lead fulfilled lives.
A chaplain can bring an independent, informed and ethical perspective to the way a business functions. Starting from the fundamental perspective of humanity dignity, they can be useful people to have around when changes are being made, or when a company is responding to changing market conditions.
Long ago, in my first year in ordained ministry, an older colleague said, “You’ll be doing a good job if you tell other people when they are doing a good job.” That’s the privilege we often have in chaplaincy. As St Paul put it, “Encourage one another.”