We haven’t seen much room for religion in the workplace, until now.
Things are changing as the number of workplace religious groups surges—and multicultural employees are shouting hallelujah.
Ramona Moore Big Eagle lives her life by a biblical credo: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths.” These “paths” include both her personal and professional lives. In her two years in sales at Pitney Bowes in Charlotte, NC, Ramona, who is Native American, was known to utter a joyful “praise God” when colleagues shared news of their promotions. Today, God’s words inform her work as a motivational speaker who runs her own company, Dare to Soar Enterprises, in Charlotte. “God guides my way always, even at work,” says Ramona, 53. “My faith allows me to exude a confidence that no one can take away from me, and I think that’s why I’ve been so successful.”
Religion has historically been seen as a private matter with little place in corporate America. But within the past two decades, a visible workplace faith shift has occurred as companies embrace religious diversity in answer to a growing global economy and to employees asking for their beliefs to be equally represented, according to Os Hillman, director of the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries, based in Cumming, GA. More and more, people like Ramona are bringing their spirituality to work—and more and more, firms are accommodating employees’ need to pray, wear symbols of their faith or perhaps shout hallelujah if the spirit moves them. Nearly 90 percent of Americans consider themselves religious, and for most, spirituality isn’t something that can be shed like an article of clothing during the workweek. “This is a way of life,” says Nurah Amat’ullah, an archival librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. “I don’t stop being Muslim when I walk in the door to work.”
Many religious tenets—acting with integrity, treating others with respect—offer a perfect blueprint for workplace conduct, experts say. “Spirituality gives people a sense of purpose,” says David Miller, PhD, executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and author of God at Work. “It’s an ethical compass and a part of their well-being.”
Bring It On—But How Much?
For many women of color, spirituality at work not only motivates them but also helps them deal with racism, sexism and other stresses. “You definitely encounter adversity as a woman of color in corporate America,” says Belinda Matingou, 46, a consultant for Dell in Austin, TX. “My faith is a source of strength, an assurance that despite the difficulties, things will work out in the end.”
Ramona says her faith helped her endure what she felt was both gender and racial discrimination when she worked as a sales associate at a radio station in Charlotte. In 1981, she returned from maternity leave to find that the $30,000-a-year accounts she had built up from nothing had been given to a colleague, leaving her to start from scratch. “My manager told me that the man he’d given my accounts to a man who had a family to feed, while I didn’t have to provide for my children as I had a husband. My faith was the one thing that allowed me to be civil. Every day, I reminded myself that there’s no situation that God and I can’t handle.”
Though religion can ease the sting of discrimination, it can also pose challenges for women who dress in certain ways or pray during the workday. One Muslim woman was fired for wearing a hijab (headscarf) at work. She is currently taking legal action against her former employer (and wishes to remain anonymous during the suit).
While Sabrina N’Diaye, 41, a Muslim mother of two, has not faced outright discrimination, she is conflicted about whether to cover her head during her work in sales and marketing for the Marworth treatment center in Waverly, PA. Although she routinely wore her hijab as an off-ramped at-home mom, she chose not to wear it when she returned to work in 2003 because she didn’t want to stand out and be instantly judged. “I work in sales and have to go out and meet clients, and I didn’t want my religion to be the first thing people saw,” says Sabrina.
