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T T eading off to work? Don't forget your spirituality. l-l Companies are sending that message as they I- I. vie to sustain healthy employeeswho find joy and meaning at work. And as workers learn to bring deep personal values to bear on theirjobs, researchersare keen to figure out what it all means for business. Spirituality shapeswork habits and attitudes, according to a Baylor University survey released last month. Entrepreneurs are about 30 percent more likely than nonentrepreneurs to pray several times per day or to meditate. About 1 in 4 Americans feels his or her work is part of God's mission,the survey of 1,714adults found. 'A sizable majority [of Americans] still looks at the workplace through a faith lens that motivates them and gives meaning to what they do," says Mitchell Neubert, a Baylor management professor who analyzedthe results. Now companies are, in some cases,letting workers approach their jobs as a type of faith in action. Marketplace Chaplains USA, a Plano, Texas, companythat makes ordained ministers availableto employees,has grown its client base by 13 percent so far this year and now offers chaplain counseling free of charge to employees at nearly 2,500 work sites nationwide. Other firms are connecting workers with yoga instructors, meditation experts, and therapists who practice Christian values, saysMarina London, Web editor for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in Alexandria, Va. Such practices were rarely part of employee assistanceprograms a decade ago, she says. Today they no longer raise eyebrows. Offering everything from vegetarian meals in cafeterias to faith-based groups "is an acknowledgment that the US has become more culturally diverse," says Susan Murphy, manager of the National Human Resource Association in who travels the for TO a Nashua, N.H. "Companies are saying, 'If we INVITED PRAYRogerHaber, Baptist group, with MiriamKiesel, is who Chaplains stands want to be competitive and attract the right tal- Marketplace in in Composite Solutions Rockland, Mass. at these are some of the things we need to be Jewish, heroffice Globe ent, doing in order to be a best-in-class employer.' " Benefit programs with a spiritual dimension reflect a broader trend: integrating personal values into loyalty, greater creativity, lower absenteeism,and higher working life. Today's workers pursue not just a paycheck morale," he says. A 2008 SHRM survey found that 74 and benefits, but also qualrty of life and opportunities to percent of companies accommodate workers' religiosity enhancethe common good. somehow. Doing so tended to boost workers' morale. Feeling every bit as spiritually attuned and compasFor some workers, bringing spirituality to work makes work more meaningful, though only to a point. sionate on Monday as on Sunday is a heightened priority for workers in these times of economic uncertainty, Lorraine Appelbaum draws on her Bahai faith to see her according to Robert Giacalone, a professor at Temple work as God-given and, therefore, worthy of excellence. University in Philadelphia and editor of the Journal of Her faith also teaches compassion, but she can't let that Management, Spirituality & Religion. compromise her data collection, even when she knows that what she's hearing from needy clients might lead to "The companies that are catching on are realizingthis

a meaningf,ul environment where they feel they're safe and can do things that are good for all concerned.' " For QuaiserAbdullah, helping resolve computer problems for students, faculty, and staff at Temple University is an expression of the Islam that calls him to help his neighbor. Yet in terms of explicit faith practices, he keeps a low profile. He always takes a l0-minute break for midday prayers, for instance, but never in a room that someone might need. "It's something I have a legal right to do, but not necessarilyat [someoneelse's]expense,"he says. Workplaces haven't always been comfortable with employees who discuss or practice spirituality on the job, and many still aren't. Some public companies strive to keep their settings secular as a means of keeping religious differences at bay, says David Miller, director of Princeton University's Faith & Work Initiative in Princeton, N.J. He warns that such policies can feel sti fling for workers who seework as an integral component of their spirituality. Research shows that "companies that create a respectful place for people to bring their spirituality to work will have employees with greater

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