Religion in a Changing Workplace, by Elaine Howard Ecklund, Denise Daniels, and Christopher P. Scheitle (New York: Oxford University Press, 2024)
- Review by: Akpan Ubong-Abasi and Rachel C. Schneider
- Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance
- Rice University
A new book Religion in a Changing Workplace draws on over 15,000 surveys and 300 in-depth interviews to investigate the multifaceted role of religion in United States workplaces. The culmination of five years of research, the book explores religion’s role in the lives of workers—how it can contribute to a sense of meaning and purpose at work, but also how it can be a source of conflict and discrimination—and the implications for an increasingly religiously pluralistic workplace.
Many workplace leaders avoid addressing religion explicitly for fear of conflict. But Ecklund, Daniels, and Scheitle argue that ignoring religion’s presence at work can cause more harm than good. This is the case because many employees want to express or practice their faith at work as part of bringing their authentic selves to work, and they feel excluded or stifled if discouraged from doing so. Further, faith is often deeply connected to one’s sense of purpose and meaning around work. This means that expressing one’s whole self at work, including one’s faith, can encourage a sense of organizational belonging and commitment. Finally, religion/spirituality can also be a resource for dealing with workplace conflict and stress, ultimately providing positive coping tools. At the same time, faith in the workplace must be navigated thoughtfully to avoid marginalization and discrimination between individuals and groups.
Because the workplace is one of the few places in society where individuals get to meet people of different religions and interact with those who are different from them, there is the possibility for both negative and positive interactions. However, Ecklund and her coauthors make a compelling case that it is time for leaders to stop neglecting religion at work out of fear or ignorance. Rather, employees and employers should see religion as a form of workplace diversity that can support beneficial outcomes on multiple levels, if accommodated in nuanced ways. Over the course of ten chapters, the authors then draw on their expertise in sociology and business management to offer a clear but nuanced picture of how people are grappling with religion in the workplace. They discuss opportunities for religion to integrated into the workplace ways to serve works and organizations. Finally, they provide guidance to organization leaders about how they can support religious expressions at workplaces while respecting the identities of all religious and non-religious identities.
This book is for policymakers, employers, employees, and managers who want to learn how to integrate and attend to religion in the workplace using the best available data. It is also a great resource for sociologists, religious studies, and scholars of organization and management.
A huge asset of this book is that it gives insight into workers in many different occupations and organizational levels think about (and experience) faith in the workplace in positive and negative ways. The book shows that many employees are looking for clarity about ways to express their faith without violating laws or company or company policies. At the same time, individuals and groups experience religious conflict and discrimination in the workplace often in informal ways that many policies do not address. Thus, the authors draw on their research to encourage organizations and business leaders to develop thoughtful policies around expressing and accommodating faith in workplaces that can promote healthy pluralism. In challenging workplace leaders to listen to the voices and experiences of workers of all types, the authors of this book compellingly show how workplaces can become spaces where all people can thrive. The hope is for future workplaces where religion and spirituality are not seen as problems to be solved but assets to creating healthy organizational cultures.
The research in this book was conducted before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a period that pushed workplace leaders to pay greater attention to the everyday experiences of employees. One overlooked dimension in these conversations has been issues of religious freedom, belonging, and inclusion. Ultimately, this book makes the strong case that religion has to be part of the conversation if we are to create workplaces that serve both workers and businesses well.