By Marsie Sweetland (second from right), Client Executive and Founder of FaithConnect at Equinix

See a summary of the panel discussion by Alessio Atria & Melissa Grim here.

At this year’s Religious Freedom & Business Foundation conference, panelists from Google, Intel, Salesforce, and Meta (Facebook) joined me for a 45-minute conversation about how they successfully established their faith-based ERGs. The complete video is below, along with a summary here. I hope this is helpful to anyone looking to establish a faith-based ERG.

When I decided to found Equinix’s faith-based ERG in 2019 (FaithConnect), I had high hopes, but I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t know a single person in the faith-based ERG community.

One day, one of my co-workers told me about Salesforce’s Faithforce. I decided to reach out. Michael Roberts and Farah Siddiqui were kind enough to share their hard-won knowledge, their mission, charter, and how they established their ERG. They also told me about RFBF which is how I first learned about this incredible community.

In January 2021, my co-founder, Dale Konrad, and I attended the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s 2nd annual conference, held virtually. We were thrilled to meet other ERG members and connect with those in the broader community who support religious diversity in the workplace. The conference was very educational and a great opportunity to learn best practices.

After the conference, we decided to engage RFBF consultation services with Paul Lambert. Thanks to Paul’s expert guidance and the generous help from the broader RFBF community, we successfully launched FaithConnect in March 2021.

I was given so much help while setting up FaithConnect that I was inspired to give back. I’ve had numerous one-on-one conversations, helping others to set up their new ERGs. In order to capture the value in these discussions, I also created a Faith-Based ERG Leadership Online Community Forum where ERG members could collaborate.

Most recently, during the annual RFBF conference in May, I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to bring together leaders from some of the top faith-based ERGs in the world – Google, Intel, Salesforce, and Meta (Facebook) – to answer some of the most commonly asked questions such as, “How do I establish my faith-based ERG?”, “Should I have sub-chapters?”, or “How do I organize my ERG?”

Naomi Kraus (Google), Michael Roberts (Salesforce), Craig Carter (Intel), and Tariq Nagpurwala  (Meta) did a fantastic job of describing their process, challenges and history. I genuinely enjoyed the conversation and hope others do as well.

ERGs can bring so much to a company’s culture – respect, diversity, and understanding – and I look forward to continuing to help others on this journey.  Individually, ERGs can change a company’s culture but working together in collaboration, ERGs truly are a force for good in the world.

Washington DC May. 24, 2022: Establishing a Successful Faith-Based ERG from Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. This panel was organized by Equinix’s FaithConnect at Dare to Overcome, the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s annual faith@work national ERG conference held in partnership with the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America.

Listen to some of the faith-based ERG leaders as they share how they established their ERG, what challenges they have faced and what wins they have brought to their companies. Panelists include:

• — Google: Naomi Kraus, Founding Member and Global Chair of IBN and Global Lead of Jewglers subchapter

• — Salesforce: Michael Roberts, Global President of Faithforce

• — Meta: Tariq Nagpurwala, Current Co-Lead for the Interfaith@Meta ERG and Founder/Former Lead of Muslim@Meta subgroup.

• — Intel: Craig Carter, leader in the Christian ERG, and with the Cross-Faith and Belief Alliance ERG (Atheist/Agnostic, Baha’i, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh).

• — Equinix: Marsie Sweetland, Founder of Equinix FaithConnect

See a summary of the panel discussion by Alessio Atria & Melissa Grim here.

Meet the people of FaithConnect!

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection, Hope

Employees often feel unseen, disconnected and unappreciated. They long for a more significant connection; a solid sense of belonging. Here’s one suggestion to help shape a work culture in which your people feel free to connect more meaningfully: Invite them to interact in a forum focused on particular employees’ core beliefs.

The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF) recently held a virtual event in which people were invited to gather in separate “rooms” of their choosing, each hosted by a representative of a particular faith or belief. For this gathering, the beliefs included Atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Catholic, Friends of Bill (12-step programs), Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Scientology, Sikh, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Room hosts talked about the core beliefs that form their personal identity and inform their everyday work life.

This was not a “comparative religions” session. We didn’t enlist professionals to talk about particular religions. It was just employees from various companies, connecting informally with other employees who wanted to learn more about how the others’ core beliefs impact their workplace.

The response was very positive, including comments like: “We need more of this kind of connection!” “I learned so much!” “My preconceived ideas were challenged.” “This encouraged me to reach out to others who are not like me.”

Would you consider hosting a voluntary gathering around particular faiths and beliefs, like this, perhaps within your company? There’s nothing proprietary about the idea or the execution — the goal is simply to enable willing employees of various faiths to get to know their co-workers better.

If you’d like some pointers on how this kind of exchange might be facilitated at your company, RFBF can be a resource to you. In any case, it’s our hope (and prayer) that your workplace will embrace respectful and authentic communications around employees’ core beliefs. This will help strengthen your workplace culture by enabling employees to “see” one other more fully, to connect more deeply, and to truly appreciate one another.

See how faith is a core element of corporate DEI through Employee Resource Groups & corporate chaplains (similar to military chaplains)

Please register and purchase tour ticket today before they sell out!

On Veterans Day (11/11/22), the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation in partnership with Utah Valley University will host a half-day conference for companies on the “silicon slopes” of Utah at the UVU Campus at Thanksgiving Point.

Topics to be addressed include:

• – How including faith and belief reinforces other diversity initiatives
• – How to start and grow a faith-or-belief employee resource group (ERG)
• – How faith and spirituality, when accommodated in the workplace, provide resiliency, health, and wellbeing to employees
• – How corporate chaplains are providing the same level of spiritual care in corporate workplaces as they do in the military
• – Corporate General Counsel Panel
• – Contribution of freedom of religion or belief for all to the US economy

The event ends with lunch* and an optional tour of Tom Holdman’s glass studio.

Keynote Speakers

• – Astrid S. Tuminez, President of the Utah Valley University
• – Dr. Brian Grim, President of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, and the world’s leading expert on the socio-economic value of religious freedom for all
• – King Husein, Chairman and CEO of Span Construction and Engineering, which has the exclusive contract to build all Costco stores worldwide
• – Jefferson “Jeff” S. Burton, Maj. General, US Army (ret.), Vice President, Zions Bank, and member of the Utah House of Representatives

Panel Speakers

• – Archana Thiagarajan, Adobe, Senior Director Experience Design
• – Fr. Greg McBrayer, Chief Flight Controller and Company Chaplain, American Airlines
• – Chaplain Kimberly Moses, Captain, U.S. Navy, ret., ChaplainCare Learning Officer, former executive director of the Navy Chaplaincy School
• – C. Todd Linton, Director, Military Relations and Chaplains Services Division, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
• – Michael Isom, Adobe, Senior Business Operations Management
• – Adam Smith-Cairns, ServiceNow, Product Marketing Manager, and Co-chair, Interfaith Belonging Group
• – Kristine Ouzts, Strategic Planning Consultant for start-ups focusing on revenue generation, market segmentation, and financing needs
• – Keagan Case, People Analytics @ Qualtrics
• – Matt Evans, Sr. Director, Digital Transformation at Salesforce, and Global Vice President of Salesforce’s Faithforce
• – Robert Burton, UVU Civic Education Initiative

If your company has an office in Utah, get your tickets today before they sell out!

* Please contact organizers with any dietary needs.

On August 3, 2022, Brian Grim shared with the Salt Lake Chamber Military Affairs Committee* about the faith-and-belief-friendly movement among Fortune 500 companies and how veterans are playing a part in the movement.

Grim’s examples included how a former US Army command chaplain, Karen Diefendorf, became chief of chaplains at Tyson Foods (see more).

Grim also shared how the 16th Chaplain of the US Marine Corps, Rev. Dr. Alan T. “Blues” Baker, Rear Admiral (ret.), U.S. Navy, has started the corporate chaplaincy initiative ChaplainCare with retired military chaplains. Their aim is to help corporations provide the same quality of spiritual care for their members as the military does.

Grim also shared about a panel discussion he moderated with Senator James Lankford (R-OK) & Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) on why businesses should include religion as part of their diversity initiatives. (Hint: It involved a major global corporation first taking the step to include veterans as part of their diversity initiative.)

Grim began the presentation with a summary of Google’s journey to religious inclusion, spotlighting their groundbreaking video introducing their Inter Belief Network (IBN).

* The Salt Lake Chamber Military Affairs Committee focuses on building relationships between military installation units and businesses by increasing awareness through monthly briefings and tours. The committee began in 1999. It was started because it was recognized that the Top Of Utah MAC usually provided support to the Active duty units at Hill AFB, but no one was really assisting the Reserve and Guard units located in Salt Lake City area.

One of the foremost thinkers on religion and the workplace is Commissioner Andrea R. Lucas of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Learn more about her perspective on best practices prevent religious discrimination and promote religious inclusion here.

The link also includes the video of her keynote address and Q&A at our recent Faith@Work ERG Conference Dare to Overcome as well as comments by Intel’s May Mowzoon.

By Brian Grim, RFBF President

Last week, I had meetings with two different sections at the Vatican. The first was with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. We discussed corporate efforts to combat human trafficking and the release of the 5th ed. of their pivotal document, Vocation of the Business Leader.

The Vocation of the Business Leader is a 32-page “vademecum” (handbook) addressed to entrepreneurs and business leaders, in their daily commitment to integrating faith and work, and to professors in their formative moments in schools and universities.

The second meeting was with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of Relations with the States (Vatican’s international relations). We had a terrific discussion of the global work of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

As soon as I returned from Rome, I had meetings at American Airlines with Senior Vice President Thomas Rajan, Chief Diversity Officer Cedric Rockamore, and Chief Flight Controller & Company Chaplain Rev. Greg McBrayer discussing how their mission to care for people on life’s journey (including chaplaincy) is what makes them #1 on the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s Corporate 2022 REDI Index.

You can read more here:

Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection, 5th ed.

Beginning the Day at American Airlines

By Brian J. Grim, Ph.D. This is part of our ongoing blog series, Authenticity & Connection.

I just had the opportunity to spend the day with Fr. Greg McBrayer at American Airlines Skyview headquarters, just down the road from DFW Airport. Fr. Greg is a chief flight controller and a chaplain at the airline. He’s also global lead for their Christian Employee Business Resource Group (EBRG).

I’d just come from the Vatican, where I had meetings with two different sections. One, which I’ve worked with through the years, is the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which produced the pivotal document, Vocation of the Business Leader.

American Airlines, from my perspective, is a company that is putting to practice some of the core principles from that document, including the concept of a “company of persons”:

“The Six Practical Principles for Business in the Vocation of the Business Leader point to the purpose of business, which John Paul stated “is not simply to make a profit, but is to be found in its very existence as a community of persons who in various ways are endeavoring to satisfy their basic needs, and who form a particular group at the service of the whole of society”. While the phrase “community of persons” is not common in business literature today, it actually best expresses the full realization of what a company and corporation can be.

The etymology of the words “company” and “companions”—cum (with), and panis (bread)—suggests “breaking bread together”. The etymology of the word “corporation”—the Latin corpus (body)—suggests a group of people “united in one body”. This is the ideal when relatives join together in a family business. And reflecting the love that wants every family member to flourish, family business leaders might tailor work opportunities to marginalized and disadvantaged groups.”

In the video below, see the breadth of the faiths active across American Airlines forming a “community of persons,” beginning with how the Christian Employee Business Resource Group (EBRG) leader at American Airlines begins his day with his Muslim colleague.

The Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection, initially published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (which merged into the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, since August 2016), is a 32-page vademecum addressed to entrepreneurs and business leaders, in their daily commitment to integrating faith and work, and to professors in their formative moments in schools and universities.

The publication the Vocation of the Business Leader has its origin in the international seminar “Caritas in Veritate: The logic of Gift and the Meaning of Business”, held in Rome, from 24 to 26 February 2011, in the presence of entrepreneurs and scholars (with key input by the University of St. Thomas). On that occasion, the participants in the seminar decided to draw up a guide, intended for entrepreneurs as well as business teachers, which would highlight the important role of the vocation for the entrepreneur in the context of the current globalized economy, as well as the contribution of the fundamental principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church to the organization of modern business activities.

The best-selling book has already been translated and published in 15 languages, including Chinese.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has re-published it in a 5th edition that presents some of the teachings of Pope Francis that are particularly relevant to business, especially in Laudato Si’. The 5th edition text is available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese.

At noon ET on August 4, join us for a tremendous opportunity to connect meaningfully with people of various faiths and beliefs in a Zoom-based discussion.

The following attendees have volunteered to serve as discussion leaders in the Zoom breakout sessions.

• — Atheists & Agnostics: Julia Gratcheva, Intel
• — Baha’i: Jenna Nicolas, Impact Experience
• — Buddhist: Thong Yian Nee, Dell Technologies
• — Christian: Barbara Phillips, Google, & Yvonne Lane, American Airlines
• — Catholic: Brian Grim, RFBF (formerly Pew Research Center)
• — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: King Husein, Span Construction & Engineering
• — Friends of Bill (AA): Melissa Grim, RFBF
• — Hindu: Milind Makwana; Bhawna Saxena, PayPal
• — Jewish: Naomi Kraus, Google
• — Muslim: Hadi Sharifi, Intel
• — Protestant/Presbyterian: Kent Johnson, RFBF (formerly Texas Instruments)
• — Scientology: Marsie Sweetland, Equinix
• — Sikh: Neetu Dhaliwal; Harpreet Dhindsa, PayPal

We’d suggest the following questions; but each “room” will be free to chart its own path:

1. (1) How does your faith relate to your personal identity – who you are?
2. (2) What principles taught by your faith relate to the conduct of your work?
3. (3) What does your faith teach about authority, teamwork, serving and work relationships
4. (4) Other relevant facts about the other’s faith, such as the meaning behind their main religious holidays, clothing, diet, schedule, etc.

We hope many of you will join us for these respectful conversations, as we continue to promote meaningful, authentic connections.

Register for the Zoom event today.

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Registration is free of charge, but the number of participants is limited, so please register by clicking on the link below.

PEATIX LINK