How Would You Handle a Company Chaplain?

The ‘benefit’ clause is rather odd – the employer must think there’s a benefit, otherwise they wouldn’t be providing it.

More generally, though, I think I’d make as much use of the chaplain as I possibly could. In work time, of course.

Our company brings in a few counselors on a monthly basis, and employees can schedule time with them – the two main ones are a financial planner and a “life coach” who can help get over any work-related stumbling blocks.

However, both these services are clearly work-related. As my company is not-for-profit, I’d feel uncomfortable if they devoted employee-advancement dollars on a spiritual counselor when that money could go towards reduced-cost flu shots or more training workshops. I would absolutely speak up, but then again I am perhaps in a unique situation.

I’d use the chaplain at least once if I wanted to discuss a personal issue with someone at work. Like all collections of people chaplains will have a broad spectrum of capabilities. Some will have lots of useful experience in counseling on personal issues while others will be useless repeaters of biblical nonsense. I’d certainly tell the chaplain that I was an atheist. If I had a personal issue, the opportunity to check and see if the chaplain was worth anything would be no different than the first meeting with any therapist.

As to a company that requires employees to attend devotional services, that job better have some massive benefits for me to think that I could work there. I can’t quite imagine that an atheist employee would have a promotion path to senior management in that company. Plus the work environment might not be “actionable harassment” even though I can only think that it would be continuous harassment.

I wouldn’t care one way or the other unless I was being beat over the head with it.

No different than a local plant business I frequent less and less because it has a sign saying it is based on God.

On the other hand if its a public company, I would encourage my mutual funds to invest elsewhere. Then again if AIG and Citigroup prayed for money from the Government, perhaps it works – better for them than other low integrity business practices.

I’ve always thought that I should be able to reject job applicants who are religious or “spiritual,” because clearly they lack critical thinking skills!
Religion is a choice, not a (mostly) immutable and irrelevant quality, like country of origin or gender. It shouldn’t be a protected category.

I would care for the following reasons:

#1: Outside contractors cost money. Unless the company can quantify the results, the expenditure is not justified, particularly when the time comes to implement “cost-cutting” measures. Why should my job be jeopardized because the company decided to fly in Benny Hinn for a little “hands-on” motivation?

#2: Mental health services are (or should be) provided through employee health insurance, not by means of some vague “slush fund.” This creates an extra accounting headache for the employer.

#3: Unless the company can ensure that the “minister” in question is also a licensed therapist, the company is no more justified in paying for outside ministers than it would be for homeopathic consultants.

#4: This practice sends a message to the employees that Christians (or religious people) matter more to the company than non-religious persons or non-believers. In my opinion, this is discriminatory behavior.

I don’t know that I’d complain to HR about it, except during my exit interview to explain why I was switching employers.

This sounds like a religious version of the employee assistance counseling services I used to provide for large companies. The company hired a licensed psychological counselor with an office on site, usually in a secluded part of the property where people could keep an appointment or drop in with confidentiality.

Sometimes if a worker’s attendance or productivity was dropping and the foreman suspected something was wrong, most often drug or alcohol abuse, he’d send them to me for mandatory counseling sessions. I’d keep the content confidential, reporting to the management only that the employee was attending the mandatory sessions. The boss didn’t want to know the details, he just wanted his employee healthy and back on the job. It was cheaper than firing the guy and having to train a replacement.

It probably would not work well legally if sessions with a chaplain were made mandatory, but I see no problem with providing an optional service if people are more comfortable talking with a preacher instead of a shrink.

I notice that several people in the comments have stated that a chaplain would be okay at a “private” company; however the company mentioned in the Charlotte Observer article is a publicly traded company.

At the newspaper’s website, it lists the following companies with chaplains on the payroll:

Corporate chaplains have been ministering to employees for years. Here’s a sampling of companies in the Charlotte area that offer chaplains to their workers:

•Ameritech Die & Mold

•Bonded Logistics

•Central Piedmont Community College

•Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated

•Comfort Systems USA

•Custom Pallet

•Edifice General Contractors

•Estes Express Lines

•G&P Trucking

•Grayson O. Group

•Overhead Door Co. of Charlotte

•Parks Heating & Air Conditioning

•Precision Plumbing

•Southeastern Freight Lines

•Stone Truck Parts

•Teeberry Logistics

Source: Corporate Chaplains of America

I’d actually be angrier if a “humanist chaplain” were provided. Talk about demeaning!

(I can’t actually imagine what “humanist chaplain” would be/do, but I can guarantee that whatever it is I want no part of it.)

I would take it as a sign that the company has an official religion and would value my services less than a religious person with equivalent skills. I would therefore start looking for a new job.

I might also quietly complain to HR, stating my concern that this seems to be an expression that the company now has an official religion and my concern that I might be mistreated or passed over for promotions or raises because I am not a member of this religion. (I would not specify that I am an atheist. My beliefs or lack thereof are none of the employer’s business. I would simply state I’m not a member of that religion.) If the chaplain is, as described above, christian, I would also state my concern that I might be discriminated against by the company because I am gay and many christians interpret their religion as being opposed to gay people.

I would make sure to keep a copy of this communication to HR at home. Should I be in any way mistreated by the company afterward, I would file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination stating my belief that I may have been discriminated against on the grounds of religion for not conforming to the company’s official religion or on the basis of sexual orientation because of opposition from the company’s official religion, and I would provide to them a copy of my prior complaint to HR to demonstrate that this was a sincere concern and that I had properly expressed my concern to the employer.

It may not legally constitute *harassment* for an employer to have a company chaplain, but it *may* constitute evidence of intent to discriminate.

What I would expect to get out of this would be two things: 1) The company might realize that their having a chaplain offends their employees and creates liability for them, and discontinue the practice. 2) I would be covering my behind: If I recall correctly, an employer is presumed to be at fault if they take any action at all against an employee within a certain time period of an employee complaint regarding discrimination. So, they would know that I won’t put up with mistreatment, and that they’d better continue to employ me on good terms for at least that duration. (I’m used to being mistreated by employers, so something that can help keep them in their place is a good thing.)

I would be more concerned if I were expected to take up the slack while a co-worker went to visit the on-site chaplain during work hours.

If the chaplain were a resource made available to employees for their lunch break or after-hours, I’d consider it a side benefit similar to the boss providing donuts on Fridays (free to take or leave) or built a gym into the back room, which not everyone would use.

Couple of issues spring to mind: Do you have to identify as an Atheist to be exempt, or will they also exempt all other non-christians. (Jews etc). How much training does the Christian Chaplain have as a counselor – will it vary by denomination?
— Goes to ‘what exactly is the benefit’ of the program, will religious morals interfere with humanistic morals?
— For instance I’d feel uncomfortable with a Catholic Priest, due to their objection to homosexuality, abortion, and birth control – or that is the official position of the church being that.

I would not object to a chaplain being available for counseling for those who felt they needed it. I would hope that this person had a mental health background and would know when someone needed help outside his/her scope

I would strenuously object to religious services being held on company time, or even sponsored by the company even if they are not on company time or property.

Living in a “work at will” state, the arrival of a corporate chaplain at my place of employment would be a sure sign that I was about to be fired.

The company I work for at the moment offers a quite room for its Muslim employees to pray and I have worked for another company that ran a similar service to the one described in the article. On the one occasion I was approached by the Chaplin I politely declined and was not approached again.

Provided the service is voluntary and does not impinge on my work life I have no issues.

I think it’s possible for it to be done unobtrusively and being simply a service that’s available without being pushed or otherwise promoting a religious environment, and even in such a way that the chaplain can provide “someone to talk to” for a non-believer.

My (limited) experience with chaplain types is that they tend to be easily approachable and not the sort to ram religion down one’s throat.

In terms of tax dollars paying for chaplains – there’s lots of them in most militaries.

Here’s the website for Marketplace Chaplains, definitely says they won’t force conversations with employees, prosletyze, or promote any specific religious group.

I think this is a scary trend and does open up the door for discrimination. If I sound paranoid, well, I’ve been harrassed at a government job for being openly Atheist. On the State level, not the Federal, but still…

Frankly, I think if a company does get a chaplain, it does show an intent or, at the very least, a desire for its employees to be at least nominally Christian so I would, as others have stated, start job hunting immediately.

But the reason I say it’s a disturbing trend is what are the options when they all or the bulk get a chaplain? Walmart’s has had an undesirable influence on employment in this country and if the thing becomes popular — as it apparently is becoming in the South — what’s the option, put up or be unemployed? Then stick out like a sore thumb if you avoid the chaplain?

We’ll soon be left with the only recourse to protest are the suggestions here to make use of the chaplain and waste its time and get paid for doing so. Actually, that’s not a bad idea now as a form of protest. But instead of telling said chaplain your Atheist inundate him with bringing him all your troubles (or made up dreams, I like that one, Jen). After all, you can’t trust him not to be a company spy.

Also, I think any of us who find ourselves in that situation would be very wise to keep The Other Tom’s advice in mind.

Frankly, it’s totally unnecessary. Why can they not just go to their church for spritual guidance. One should question why an employer would spend on something so unnnecessary.

You’ve all added something to this that wasn’t there in the original: Christian. Or, you all think that there can’t be a humanist chaplain.

A chaplain deals with matters of the spirit, not necessarily religion. While typically “endorsed” or ordained, a chaplain does not have to be.

I know hospital chaplains that make it clear that religion does not enter into the services they provide to people in hospitals. A chaplain is there to help you work through matters to your satisfaction, not to the chaplain’s personal satisfaction.

They can be a source of information. They can be a listening ear. They can be an advocate for a person.

A chaplain is never there to proselytize.

Ultimately, chaplains are like abortions. If you don’t want one, don’t have one. It is a personal decision.

I believe that having a chaplain in the workplace can create a clickish environment and will eventually create additional divisions within the organization. They really don’t belong in the workplace.