The Link between Joy, Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Burnout: Study on Christian Employees, Study notes of Creative writing

Download The Link between Joy, Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Burnout: Study on Christian Employees and more Study notes Creative writing in PDF only on Docsity! RESTORING JOY TO YOUR LIFE REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW Regent University School of Business A Magazine for Christian Leaders and Managers ALSO IN THIS ISSUE A Theology of Fair Pay The Legal Boundaries of Witnessing at Work COMMENTARY: Decoding The Apprentice www.regent.edu/review ISSUE 15 REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 2 Issue 15 (January/February 2005) Restoring Joy to Your Life 3 What’s the difference between joyful Christians and the rest of us? How do they manage to retain a joyful disposition, despite their circumstances? What’s the secret to success here? This study of more than 5,000 Christians provides some answers you won’t find anywhere else. OTHER VOICES: A Theology of Fair Pay 9 As Christians, how much should we pay people? What’s too little and what’s too much? How should we balance employee needs with the economic realities of the organization? These are not easy questions, but one courageous theologian, who’s also a professor of management, tackles them head-on. The Legal Boundaries of Witnessing at Work 15 The questions come up regularly among evangelicals and those who employ them. Christian entrepreneurs wrestle with the issue as well. Just what right does one have to share the Good News of the Gospel at work, as an employee or as an employer? The parameters of U.S. law might surprise you. COMMENTARY: Decoding The Apprentice 18 The Apprentice is just a TV show, right? Just another one of those insipid, gimmicky attempts by Hollywood to win the ratings war. In reality, though, this “reality show” can shape the reality of how people think about business and how they behave in organizations. Mere entertainment? We think not. What’s in the way of finally enjoying your life? PAGE 3 Regent Business Review is an electronic magazine published by the Regent University School of Business. The mission of RBR is “to equip and encourage Christians to be more God-honoring leaders and managers.” As such, we offer practical guidance about what it means to be an authentic Christian in the workplace, as well as tools for better communication, for character development, and for other building blocks of leadership excellence. Driven by a calling to make disciples in the marketplace, we seek to exhort and coach Christians to “excel still more” (1 Thess. 4:1) in their roles as leaders and managers. We welcome your ideas about how we can make Regent Business Review more useful, and we invite you to tell others about this unique resource. For back issues of RBR, or to subscribe, please visit our Web site (www.regent.edu/review) or contact us at: Regent Business Review, Regent University School of Business, 1000 Regent University Drive, Virginia Beach VA 23464. © 2005 by Michael Zigarelli Mere entertainment? We think not. PAGE 18 Legal or illegal? That is the question. PAGE 15 REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 5 those who experience less gratitude Figure 3 depicts the connection between gratitude and joy. It’s strikingly linear and steep. Further analysis revealed that there is not just a correlation here, but also a causal connection. Gratitude drives joy. So as we work toward becoming a more grateful person, joyful living often follows naturally. We should be careful to remember, though, that joy is not guaranteed to follow. Despite the strong causal connection, I identified nearly 1,000 people in my study who are very grateful, but still not very joyful. Digging deeper, I found that these are primarily people who are in their 20s, 30s and 40s—people who are feeling the crunch of over- extension. Learning to be married, the chaos of parenthood, working to develop their careers, and trying to balance all of these enormous responsibilities can culminate in exhaustion and lack of contentment with life. So, although gratitude often feeds joy, for many people the effects of gratitude may be more than offset by their lifestyle. This segues us nicely into a discussion of the primary obstacle to joy: Burnout. Burnout: A Major Obstacle to Joy Burnout is a joy killer, not only for people in mid-life, but for people of every age. It’s a type of stress, a feeling of exhaustion—usually mental or emotional exhaustion—but it can have physical elements as well like headaches or lack of energy. Sound familiar? It might, because apparently more people than ever are experiencing this condition, often as a result of job or home responsibilities that are simply too demanding. Researchers have also found burnout to be a natural result of excessive interpersonal conflicts, of dealing with other people’s problems all day long, and of receiving few rewards or affirmation for one’s accomplishments.4 However, these lethargic legions are not all innocent victims. In some cases, we inflict burnout on ourselves. Sometimes we do so by creating what has been called a “performance trap” or “high- performance prison”;5 that is, we try to excel at absolutely everything we do (whether on 4 Representative of this line of research is Cynthia Cordes and Thomas Dougherty, 1993: “A review and an integration of research on job burnout,” Academy of Management Review, 18:4, 621- 635. 5 See Robert McGee, The Search for Significance, (Word Publishing, 1998) and Jennifer McFarland, 2001: “High-Performance Prison,” Harvard Management Update, Harvard Business School Publishing, Reprint U0106D. the job, in our volunteer work, or at home as “super-mom,” “super-dad,” or “super-spouse”) and then, if that were not enough, we continually try to top our last achievement. Our successes are seldom cause for celebration. Instead, they only serve to raise the bar for next time! We also self-inflict burnout when we allow ourselves to become addicted to over-indulgence—when we repeatedly choose to schedule too many things in our week or when we make a lifestyle out of accumulating and maintaining material possessions. As a result, we never get off the treadmill. We lament the pace of life and we experience its ill- effects, but the irony is that at any time, we have the power to at least reduce the speed of that treadmill, if not step off it entirely. We simply choose not to do so. And what’s the outcome? Burnout’s consequences are many and menacing: reduced satisfaction with our job and/or our life, lower self- esteem, and what psychologists call “depersonalization”—the mental distancing from the people around us. This is not exactly the portrait of the “fruit of the Spirit” Christian. And the least of the fruit that burnt out Christians do see in themselves is consistent joy. In People who feel that their lives have real purpose are much more joyful than are others. There is a strong causal relationship between feeling grateful and being joyful REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 6 fact, as shown in Figure 4, there is an unambiguously negative relationship between burnout and joy in the Christians that I studied. If burnout is stealing your joy, then, what can you do about it? This is one of the hot-topic questions of our day, with both Christian and secular resources now cluttering bookstore shelves.6 I’d recommend that you read one or more of these resources as an important step toward permanent renewal. But some of the answers may be relatively obvious. For example, it’s almost always the case that one should begin by identifying the sources of one’s exhaustion, and then make a priority to address them. If it’s a complicated, over-indulgent lifestyle, part of the answer is to simplify your life. If it’s a “do-it-all-and-do-it-great” mind-set—a high-performance prison, so to speak—then some self-examination regarding your motivations might be the first step. If it’s the nature of your daily work—the overload or the conflicts that it creates—then it may be imperative that you get assistance with the workload or, as the case may be, perhaps make the move to a job that 6 Among Christian resources, two of the better books are Beating Burnout by Frank Minrith and Paul Meier (Inspiration Press, 1997) and Margin by Richard Swenson (NavPress, 1995). In the secular literature, consider Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency by Tom DeMarco (Broadway Books, 2001), The Truth About Burnout by Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter (Jossey-Bass, 2002), and Reclaiming the Fire by Steven Berglas (Random House, 2001). improves the quality of your life. The critical point is that if you often feel burnt out, find a way to address the issue. If you elect not to, it will severely limit your joy and your potential to grow into the person God wants you to be. Joy is Also a Means to Godly Living, Not Just an End God wants us to enjoy our lives. And as we’ve seen in this article, there are some things that raise our joy, while there are other things that raze it. But I found in my research that there may be even more at stake here than simply restoring joy to our lives. Joy is not just an end it itself. It has outcomes as well as antecedents. In fact, it can enable many other virtues God wants us to cultivate. Dallas Willard makes this point when he says that in celebration and joy, we find “great strength to do the will of our God because his goodness becomes so real in us.”7 That is, Willard argues, joy empowers our obedience. Similarly, Richard Foster demonstrates that the power of 7 Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, HarperCollins: San Francisco, 1991, p. 181. the spiritual disciples (prayer, worship, Bible study, accountability, service to others, etc.) is dependent upon their being practiced joyfully, observing that “joy is the motor, the thing that keeps everything else going … Joy produces energy. Joy makes us strong.”8 Indeed, God wants us to enjoy our lives. One of the reasons He sacrificed His Son is so that we could experience the overflowing joy of knowing our eternities are secure. But we Christians would do well to think about joy as more than an end in itself. Restoring joy to our lives is also a pathway to consistent Christian living—to authentic witness, to a closer relationship with God, and to blessing abundantly everyone around us. __________ Michael Zigarelli is the dean of the Regent University School of Business and the editor of Regent Business Review. You can reach him at michzig@regent.edu Adapted from Cultivating Christian Character: How to become the person God wants you to be—and how to help others do the same (Xulon Press, 2002). Used by permission. All rights reserved. 8 Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, HarperCollins: San Francisco, 1998 Edition, p. 191. Joy can enable many other virtues that God wants us to cultivate. 7 REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 Figure 1 “I Am a Forgiving Person” Figure 2 “I Feel That My Life Has Real Purpose” REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 10 quantity supply and quantity demand are not equal (i.e., not in equilibrium), then the price of labor (the real wage) will adjust upward (to alleviate a shortage of labor) or downward (to alleviate a surplus) in order to re- establish the equilibrium market clearing price. From a market perspective, Ruby’s galling and pinching is of little concern here; what is of concern is whether Ruby and the hospital are able to freely contract in maximizing their self-interest. From a justice perspective, the question is a bit more complex. First, in order to determine whether a wage is just, we need to ask whether wages create “right relationships.” Why? Let’s look at the word itself. The word justice comes from the Latin ius which means “right.” In the Christian tradition, “right” is not understood in our typical modern situation in terms of “my rights,” especially in terms of my private right to do whatever I want with my body or my property or my company, but rather, inspired by its Trinitarian roots, are we in right relationship as is the community of the Trinity. Moreover, the Hebrew mišpāt (justice) and şĕdāqâ (righteous) in the Old Testament refer to the fulfillment of responsibilities that arise out of particular relationships within the community—relationships between employer and employee, ruler and people, husband and wife, parent and child, etc. Thus to determine whether Ruby is paid justly, we need to examine very carefully what is the nature of the exchange between Ruby and the hospital, and what relationship has been established between Ruby and the hospital. But is it important here to get clear one of the implications of the Hebrew and Latin roots of justice, which serves as “the fundamental insight” of what a just wage is. The insight is this: work can never be reduced to the pay given; that is, the wage given can never fully account for the labor done, precisely because work is always “more” than its economic output or instrumental value. The money given to Ruby by Little Company of Mary Hospital cannot fully account for the work—the gift—she gave to my mother and my family. When Ruby works she not only cares for my mother by making her bed, cleaning her body, etc.—that is, in the things she changes—but Ruby’s work also changes herself. This is what John Paul II calls “the subjective dimension of work.” So when the hospital pays Ruby, the wage given to her does not equal the work she has done. There is “something more” in Ruby’s labor that cannot be accounted for by the wage. If the hospital views the wage/labor exchange as equal, Ruby’s work then begins to be increasingly seen, both by the hospital and by Ruby, in terms of a commodity, where the money given for Ruby’s work has somehow exhausted the responsibility the hospital has to Ruby. While there is no doubt that Ruby’s work is exchanged for money and can be partially commodified by the price given for it, work is at the same time forming Ruby’s personal, social and spiritual identity that goes beyond the work itself. This is why it is better to avoid speaking of wage as primarily an exchange as one finds in economics and business, and to speak of pay instead as part of a work relationship between employer and employee, a relationship that when it is in right order can serve to strengthen a community of work. And here we come to see more specifically what this relationship begins to look like in terms of Principles. Moral Principles This understanding of justice leads us to see at least three main principles to help clarify what this “right relationship” between an employer and employee would look like as regards to pay. They are need, contribution, and order. The Principle of Need and a Living Wage A wage that fails to meet the needs of an employee (in particular, a full-time adult) is a wage that will struggle to carry the weight of a real relationship. In order for this relationship to flourish, an It is better to think of a wage as part of a relationship than as an exchange. REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 11 employer must recognize that employees “surrender” their time and energy and so cannot use it for another purpose. A living wage, then, is the minimum amount due to every independent wage earner by the mere fact that he is a human being with a life to maintain and a personality to develop. To get a macro perspective on how well “need” is fulfilled, consider the statistics, illustrated in the form of a champagne glass in the Figure below. Twenty percent of the global population reaps more than eighty percent of the global income. When one thinks that God has given us all dominion—that creation has been gifted to all humanity—but that most of the resources are allocated to a small minority of the population, we have created an economic system that needs to be improved. What becomes less clear is exactly how to improve it. The Principle of Contribution and an Equitable Wage While the principle of need is necessary for determining a just wage, alone it is insufficient, since it only accounts for the consumptive needs of employees and does not factor in their productive contributions to the enterprise. Because of effort and sacrifice as well as skill, education, experience, scarcity of talent, and decision-making ability, some employees contribute more to the organization than others, and are “due” more pay. In other words, a living wage, while a minimum floor, is not necessarily an equitable wage. To honor someone in the wage relationship is to recognize her talents and efforts. An equitable wage, then, is the contribution of an employee’s productivity and effort within the context of the existing amount of profits and resources of the organization. I have to tell you that the Pope himself runs into this problem of contribution and equity all the time. A journalist once asked him how many people worked at the Vatican. He paused, and then said “about half.” Jokes aside, as Aquinas noted over 700 years ago, it is a failure of justice when workers are paid the same wages for unequal work, or unequal wages for equal work. One of the more striking signs of inequity we have seen lately has been the growing wage gap between executive pay and worker wages, particularly in large publicly traded organizations. While some, like Dennis Kozlowski, may justify such compensation numbers, most people realize, especially in our knowledge-based economy, that the economic value of the company is increasingly in the knowledge and skills of all its employees, and not merely in the executives. The Principle of Economic Order and a Sustainable Wage Pay is not only income for the worker, it is also a cost to the employer, which has a significant impact on the economic order of the organization. Without the foresight of how a living and equitable wage will affect the economic order of an organization, a just wage becomes a high-sounding moralism that is impractical. A sustainable wage, then, is the organization’s ability to pay wages that is sustainable for the economic health of the organization as a whole. Managing the Tensions among the Principles These principles, as well as the fundamental insight of justice, will help a manager to realize that there are at least “three bottom lines” to a just wage: (1) needs of all employees, (2) the different contributions of each of the employees, and (3) the economic order of the organization. But the manager of a company will often find these principles in tension with one another and will be tempted to emphasize one or two, but ignore a third. Let me share with you how one company wrestled with the tensions among these three principles and how they were able to reach a certain synthesis in their compensation policy based on these principles. I must say from the outset that this synthesis is not a static one, but dynamic that can easily be lost, but difficult to regain. As Aquinas noted over 700 years ago, it is a failure of justice when workers are paid equal wages for unequal work. REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 12 The company I want to talk about is Reell Precision Manufacturing in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is a producer of hi-tech clutches and hinges for the office machine and computer industries. The company operates on the practical application of Judeo- Christian values for the “growth of people.” Based on its mission, Reell believes that all its workers should at least be paid a “living wage” or what they call a “target wage.” But because they operate within a market system, they are faced with the following situation: The Market Wage: The actual market wage or “sustainable wage” for assemblers in the company was $7/hour ($14,000/year). The Living Wage: In 1996 their estimate of a living wage in St. Paul was $11/hour ($22,000/year). The Gap: How to make up the difference? The four dollar discrepancy between a living wage and a sustainable wage was a tension between two principles operating in the company: The principle of need and the principle of economic order. While the management of Reell desired to pay its employees not only their market worth, but also the worth of who they are (persons made in the image of God who deserve at least a minimum of need), management was all- too-aware that customers would only pay for the “instrumental value” of work. If Reell would pay $11/hour to its employees while competitors paid $7, Reell’s cost disadvantage would increase their likelihood of losing customers. Realizing that the “ought” of a living wage always implies the “can” of a sustainable wage, the company had to seriously rethink how it was doing business and then act creatively. This rethinking took on several dimensions: Living Wages and Distributors of Justice First, Reell’s management resisted capitulating their responsibilities to the mechanical force of labor markets. They saw themselves as moral agents, as distributors of justice in the marketplace, and not as mere market technicians. Nor were they simply working toward a “target wage” because they thought it would “attract and retain” employees who would make the company more money. Nonetheless, Reell’s management enhanced morale by showing employees their commitment to establishing “right relationships,” that is, concern for their need. Equitable Wage and the Principle of Subsidiarity What concretely enabled Reell to pay a living wage was a whole new way of doing work at the company. Reell redesigned their assembly-line from a Command-Direct- Control management style, where management and engineers made all the decisions concerning the conception of the assembly area, to a Teach-Equip-Trust management style where employees were taught inspection procedures, equipped with quality instruments, and trusted to do things right on their own assembly-line. Employees decreased set-up times for new products, reduced the need for quality inspection, increased overall quality, and required less supervision. By reducing these costs, the company not only was able to pay a living wage, but also created more humane work. Reell’s management began to live the theological principle of “subsidiarity,” by pushing responsibility and authority to the lowest possible level, and thereby tapping the talents of employees, providing them the resources to pay a living wage. Sustainable Wage and Prudential Judgment Reell’s management realized that every action has a reaction and that raising wage levels without changing the work process would have serious consequences to their cost structure. So in order to raise labor rates to pay a living wage, they would have to reduce their overall total costs. They eventually saw that low wages were merely a symptom of a much larger problem of how the company worked. When work is designed to use seven dollars of talent, it is difficult to pay people anything more than that amount. The “ought” of a living wage always implies the “can” of a sustainable wage. REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 15 Full-time American workers spend an average of 8.3 hours a day on the job, so many believers recognize that their workplaces provide an obvious venue for sharing the gospel. But, such Christians are facing increasing opposition from employers for engaging in witnessing activities. Just how much can you talk about Jesus Christ on the job? Is it legally permissible for managers to mention Bible verses when conversing with clients, or to pray for their employees? At what point does witnessing constitute harassment…or does it ever? Often company officials do not understand their employees’ religious rights, and sometimes they wrongfully discipline them for activities that are entirely appropriate. Far too often, employers mistakenly treat religious speech like sexual harassment and create a “zero tolerance” policy. Religious speech and sexual harassment are worlds apart, though. The former enjoys both constitutional and statutory protections that have never been granted to the latter. Notwithstanding, more and more Christians are being told that their faith has no place at work. Some employees have even been terminated for exercising their right to religious expression. Here are a few examples: • A state university department supervisor faced disciplinary action for violating the university’s “harassment” policy. Human resources personnel informed him that because he was a supervisor, he could never talk about religion to another employee. This interpretation of the law was incorrect. • An employee of a large retail establishment in Illinois frequently shared her faith with coworkers. Because this employee knew the laws regarding religious speech, she always made a point to ask her coworkers to tell her if they did not want to discuss religion. None of her colleagues ever complained to her, yet she was terminated for violating the store’s “harassment policy.” • The employer of a Florida man warned him to cease all voluntary religious discussions with coworkers. Employees who consistently violated the company’s profanity policy, however, were not disciplined. As these individuals later learned, one key to being an effective witness in the workplace is to understand exactly what your rights are. Some important questions we’ll consider are: • When does sharing your faith constitute harassment? • Are there greater restrictions on religious expression for supervisors? • Does it matter if you are witnessing to your company’s customers or to your coworkers? Religious Discussions with Coworkers Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides general rules for all private workplaces employing fifteen or more people. It stipulates that a company that allows employees to engage in non- work related conversations, such as those about politics, family, sports or other such topics, may not prohibit voluntary religious discussions between employees either. The water cooler and employee lunchroom are a type of public forum where citizens share ideas and interact at a variety of levels. In informal settings, such as break rooms or The Legal Boundaries of Witnessing at Work David C. Gibbs, Jr. Often, employers mistakenly treat religious speech like sexual harassment and create a zero- tolerance policy. REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 16 hallways, and at times when workers voluntarily interact about non-work issues, employees may discuss their religious views or voluntarily pray together. The same rules apply as would to any other private conversation. Other employees may not stop religious exchanges simply because they overhear a religious conversation. For example, at a large retail store in Indiana, an employee and several coworkers met informally and as privately as possible each day for a brief word of prayer before clocking in for work. They asked God to bless their supervisors and colleagues and prayed for other needs. One day, company management asked the group to stop because another employee had been offended when she saw them quietly praying. The employee contacted Christian attorneys who informed store management that another worker’s offense at this quiet religious activity did not justify prohibiting it. If the workers had been discussing the previous night’s TV programming, no question would have been raised. Despite clear legal protections, Christian employees often face discipline for sharing their faith. Incredibly, some employers will allow non- Christian religious expression yet forbid religious expression from Christians. For example, an employee was disciplined for sharing his Christian perspective on suicide and salvation with a coworker who had just expressed his belief in reincarnation and stated that he was contemplating suicide. The Christian was fired for sharing the hope of life found in Jesus Christ and for pleading with his coworker not to commit suicide! Limits on Religious Discussions with Coworkers While Christian employees have broad rights to express their faith to coworkers, there are two legal limitations. 1. An employee must not allow religious discussions to interfere with work. Stated differently, an employer has the right to insist on the employee’s full attention during working hours. Therefore, a Christian employee should be careful not to create even the perception that religious discussions are interfering with job performance. Also, it is easier to prove that talking about religion is the reason for discipline if the employee has a good work reputation and a clean record as an excellent, dedicated employee. In one case, a Christian employee’s attorney was able to point to the employee’s glowing performance evaluations (copies of which he always kept at home) when management insisted the employee was not a victim of religious discrimination, but rather was being disciplined for poor work performance. 2. If a coworker indicates directly or indirectly that she does not wish to discuss matters of religion, the Christian employee should immediately stop discussing it with her. If the Christian does not stop, he can be disciplined for harassment. This rule is legitimate. Think of this limitation in terms of “the shoe being on the other foot.” If a Christian works with a Satanist, that Christian worker has the right to prevent the Satanist from talking to him about occultist practices. This precaution does not mean, however, that every time someone who has asked you not to talk about religion walks into the room, your conversation with others must stop. But, you should be sure not to direct the religious conversation to the employee who has objected. Religious conversations at work should take place privately and voluntarily. In Any employer may restrict employees from conversing about religion with clients, patients, or customers… …but there are no limitations on a Christian employer’s right to witness to his customers. REGENT BUSINESS REVIEW, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 17 fact, it may be wise to take a conversation elsewhere when a person who has objected comes on the scene, since this type of person would be most likely to press the issue. Religious Discussions with Customers Although nothing prevents Christians from discussing faith with coworkers during free time on the job, any employer—public or private— may restrict employee conversations with clients, patients or customers about religion. On the other hand, a business owner may also choose to permit such religious conversations—and many do. The decision regarding religious conversations with clients rests with the private employer and not with the employee. We recently handled a case in which a California employer terminated an employee for engaging in a religious conversation with a client. The employee had inquired about a mutual acquaintance who happened to be a pastor. The client shared how the pastor encouraged her and her children to attend church and how excited she was to have her children learning about the Bible. A coworker reported this completely voluntary conversation to a supervisor, who fired the Christian. This termination was unlawful because the Christian employee had never been instructed not to discuss religion with customers, and because it was the client who brought religion into the conversation. Christian Employers Who Witness There are no limitations concerning the right of a Christian employer to witness to his customers. In fact, many Christian employers regularly incorporate witnessing into their business practices. For example, Christian employers may place a gospel tract in outgoing mail and print Bible verses on company invoices, purchase orders or other commercial documents. They may answer the phone with Christian greetings, either on a regular basis or on religious holidays, such as Christmas. In contrast to the relatively unfettered right Christian employers have to share their faith with customers, federal and state laws restrict the rights of Christian business owners to witness to their employees. Under Title VII, business owners or supervisors are permitted to communicate their religious beliefs through their company policies and practices provided that 1) they do not give prospective or current employees the perception that employment or advancement requires workers to adopt a certain religious belief, 2) they accommodate employee objections, and 3) they do not require employees to participate in religious worship experiences. In other words, an employer or supervisor may witness to employees as long as he is careful to accommodate employees who object to any of the company’s religious practices, and as long as employees are clearly informed that their religious beliefs or non-beliefs play no role in hiring, termination, promotion, or in the terms, conditions or privileges of employment. (However, religious organizations, such as churches and other ministries, are generally exempt from Title VII and state law religious requirements.) A Last Resort As the above examples show, there is growing hostility in modern America to religious speech at work. Despite some employers’ desire to create a “religion free workplace,” Christians have the right to witness in the workplace— subject to certain limitations. If you face difficulties for sharing your faith in the workplace, contact a Christian attorney who specializes in religious discrimination. This person can provide information regarding your rights and assist you if you are disciplined or terminated for sharing your faith at work. ___________ David Gibbs is the president of the Christian Law Association, an organization that has provided free legal assistance to thousands of workplace believers. For more information about the legal missionary ministry of the CLA, please call (727) 399-8300 or visit www.ChristianLaw.org