Atheists and Business Practices

Q: What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?
A: Forgiveness is irrelevant. I can forgive someone and still fire them. I’ve done it. People make mistakes. Some of them can be overlooked, others cannot. The issue is whether or not the business can afford to have a repeat of the same behavior and the perceived chances (yes, it’s subjective, I know) of the individual repeating the offending behavior.

Q: How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?
A: Too vague. Depends on the difficulties and the origin(s) of said difficulties.

Q: What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?
A: Irrelevant

Q: If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?
A: Generous enough. Are you looking for hard data?

Q: To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?
A: Not any one person. Success comes from the hard work of everyone on the team.

1. Very little, I don’t have any problems with staff and so have nothing to forgive. I’m fairly lenient about a lot of things and work in a relaxed informal space with people I actively socialise with as well as work.

2. Depends on the difficulties, flexible hours or extra time off for personal problems, and due to our friendly atmosphere we all talk fairly openly. All staff have my home and mobile number and are able to have private chats whenever they want. Again those I work with are considered friends so not really a relevant question.

3. I wouldn’t even consider this at all, completely irrelevant, I mean I don’t ask if they prefer cats or dogs and I’m firmly in the dog camp.

4. We give a performance review to the accountant and he decides, he doesn’t know the staff and is impartial.

5. We’re a team all the way and thanks to the nature of our business can see when a sales person performs well and monitor the responses of catalogues, new designs and website layout so we can see who does what. Of course our excellent service and smooth running is thanks to everyone and our “pitch-in” attitude. The owner mows the grass, packs shipments and makes sales when needed, we all work together.

I employed less than 10 people in a small business, which I have recently sold. I don’t believe in any god.

1. Forgiveness is not really relevant. If someone makes a mistake my reaction depends on their intent and the extent of the damage to the business.

2. I’m prepared to reduce their duties or give them time off if they have personal issues. If they need more training in their work then I will provide it.

3. It depends on whether the orientation is overt, and what would its effects be on their duties. My business was a cafe and I would not employ an obviously gay or lesbian person, not because I disapprove of their orientation, but because it may turn some customers away. I’m not proud of this but it’s a fact of business life.

4. Not applicable.

5. All employees contribute to a business’ success, some more than others.

Something tells me he was trying to get you to answer “Jesus” to all of the above. It stinks of evangelical rhetoric.

I hope you answered much like the sensible folks above, which is exactly how I’d answer, especially number 5 – I owe it all to my hard-working self, just like whenever I mess up, the buck stops with… hmm, let me think…

im sorry personal view of a employees sexual orientation is relevent

not personally to me but in a business enviroment it definatly is

if your business is in a upscale location or in a country location they dont like
‘different’ serving them so it would impact on your profits
when was the last time you were at a animal feed store and the person behind the counter acted like nathen lane it just does not happen the same as if your ever in a posh hair salon and the person cuuuting your hair has flannel and a power mullet not going to happen

so please we know the right answer is

‘ it makes no difference ” but in the real world it does

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?
None.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?
Our organization has counselors on staff for employees to talk to and offers other assistance in case of difficulties. I personally have an open door policy for my employees to talk to me and I adjust work schedules as appropriate.

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?
From my standpoint sexual orientation and other personal factors is completely irrelevant. Being gay myself I know that I have not been offered jobs in the past due to sexual orientation (I usually ask what the domestic partnership policy is which effectively outs me during the interview) and I have turned down jobs opportunities due to lack of defined policies.

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?
Bonus plans and objectives are set at the beginning of the year. If objectives are achieved than bonus’s are paid out based on a pre-set formula from a percentage of our revenue that the board has already agreed upon. In other words – outside of helping employees set objectives – I have very little influence over bonuses.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?
Hard work.

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?

That`s a little vague and difficult to answer. Everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes can be more or less grave and more or less understandable and more or less frequent. The level to which “forgiveness” is applicable is going to change from case to case. Also, “forgiveness” will not always neatly coincide with “keeping your job”. There are things that are forgivable but that sadly make you incompatible with your job description. I can “forgive” a newly converted vegan for not wanting to handle meat, but if her job is a butcher I’ll also, without malice, have to fire her.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?
Depends on the employee and the difficulty. Within reason I think its a good idea to accomodate the situation of people. For instance trying to make the hours more flexible for an employee with a relative in the hospital.

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?
Totally irrelevant.

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?
Can’t answer. Not that kind of work.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?

I work in research and here success is a multilayered thing. You can’t say its just the supervisors or just the researchers. We all have to work our asses off to get things done. I think disproportionately PhD and post-docs do much of the work, but PIs (Principal Investigators, also known as “bosses”) have to coordinate all of us and bear the brunt of funding applications and the like. And the support roles like cleaning material or preparing solutions makes all of our lives much easier as well. So its all of us, really.

Other business questions related to choice of viewpoint on religion:

6) Do you eschew the borrowing and lending of money for interest, which is forbidden by both the Koran and the Bible?

7) Do you give away all your possessions to the poor? Does that make it difficult to build your business?

8) What about this “eye of the needle” thing?

I really don’t find an atheist viewpoint to be relevant to any of these questions. But then, I don’t think that religion has any proper place within the context of the questions either.

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?

A1. People err, and hopefully they also learn. Sometimes it’s tough to not hold a grudge when one is personally affected by another’s mistake, whether in business or personal life…but it does happen. For me, forgiveness is not exactly a conscious thing. I recognize the mistake, air the laundry, and move on.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?

A2. Should an employee of mine need special assistance or help I would extend it based upon how trustworthy this person is. If there’s a family emergency every month, alcohol on the breath, frequent late arrivals, and mismanaged or unfinished projects abounding…..well, I hope you can imagine what my answer is. Compassion for the sake of doing something “good” for another person does not trump common sense.

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?

A3. In a word, Ir-freaking-relevant.

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?

A4. I work for a non-profit and we have no such program.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?

A5. The fact that your questioner phrased this question like this and not “To whom or what do you…” is quite telling as to his or her motive in asking the question in the first place (just like the four earlier questions, too). Any success I’ve achieved in my career thus far have come from wide open eyes – an eagerness to find more things that I don’t know. The other bit… see my answer to #1. I’ve made so many mistakes, of course, and the lessons one learns from a mistake is nearly always greater than the observed or read lesson.

Hemant, I’m curious to hear about the context of the email.

These questions are somewhat vague. 1 and 3 are silly, 2 would depend on circumstances, on 4 I don’t have employees just partners, and for 5 I’d say our hard work and satisfied customers.

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees? Forgiveness is irrelevant. If someone makes a mistake then corrective action is required. They may need training or procedures may need to be properly implemented. If they do something against the law then they should be fired immediately regardless of whether I forgive them or not and if they do something against company policy then there is a procedure for issuing warnings and disciplining staff.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties? Really vague. Our CEO has a policy that we follow that goes something like this: If someone who works hard and contributes to the company is in difficulty then we will do all we can to help them. Loyalty is rewarded with loyalty. If they are lazy or unproductive then they aren’t contributing or being loyal and therefore will receive no extra help beyond that required by law.

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation? Personally I don’t care or care to know but as a company we have to ensure that staff won’t be bullied or treated differently because their sexual orientation is different from the main. It is therefore important that the company is aware of their sexuality so that we can monitor their treatment and ensure that it is fair.

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing? Ha. The directors get all the profits. We’re lucky to get a crust of mouldy bread and beating for our efforts, even as managers.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?To the people who work in the business, the people who get the customers, provide the service and support the needs of the business. This is all directed from the strategy of the board of course.

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?
Forgiveness is immoral. The moral person finds a way to use his subordinates mistakes in his favor, perhaps by insisting on unpaid overtime.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?
I would make sure I made a nice gain on the deal such as a trade for sexual favors (all consensual, of course).

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?
Is she hot?

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?
I would only extend that to employees I found hard to attract any other way. I would also work in a loophole where I get to keep the money if they are fired, retire, resign, or die. If they do not read the fine print, it’s not MY fault.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?
ME and all those weak suckers I screwed.

😉

I’m an atheist who’s worked in the drafting/design/engineering field for nearly two decades.

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?
Forgiveness for what? This question is too vague for me to actually answer.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?
Offer to help them in any way I can. Whether that’s emotional support, financial, or helping them do tasks that problems are keeping them from.

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?
It isn’t important. More important is their work ethic and competence.

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?
I’m not in the financing or human resources division, so I don’t deal with this aspect.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?
Well, since I don’t own my own business (yet), I attribute my success to a great deal of learning and effort on my part, and also to the numerous people who’ve supported me over the years. The teachers in high school and college, the coworkers who shared their experience with me, and those who’ve personally supported the career decisions I’ve made.

Interesting.
None of these questions have anything to do with real atheism.
They were clearly written by a Christian simply looking to set up an negative profile of atheists in business.
We all need to grow up and get a life as we probably have only one!

I’m a worker drone the website for our university but my company seems to be fairly low on the religious coworkers.

1. Forgiveness seems foreign to me. If someone messes up, depending on how severe, circumstances that lead to it (honest mistake vs malicious intent vs apathy) depends on how I react. Generally I give people benefit of the doubt and try to be understanding.

2. I try to be understanding. I’ve taken weekend duties to allow a coworker with kids to go to visit family during the weekend.

3. Sexual orientation is irrelevant. A few coworkers are openly gay which is cool to know its a non-issue

4. Its a nonprofit and I don’t control pay, the more sharing the better for me.

5. Being progressive, smart and Nike’s obvious love for Eugene.

Preface this by saying: Im not a business owner, but I work for a religious-based not-for-profit in a lower management position. The religious affiliation is more in name than anything else. There are actually policies in place that we can reprimand people for talking about religion while at work.

1. Depends on the circumstances. Most people just get warnings from me before anything serious happens, depending on the problem. Im not in a hiring/firing position so not really my place. But I can decide whether or not to pass issues up higher in the chain of command.

tldr: this question is stupid

2. The company I work for has a pretty flexible stance when it comes to taking time off and shifting schedules around. If a coworker of mine is having issues I do whatever I can.

3. Despite the “religious affiliation” many of the employees where I work are openly gay, including people at the very top of the organization.

4. As a not for profit, there is no profit sharing. All profits are recycled back into the company to increase the quality of care for our residents.

5. Everyone on the team.

1. What role does forgiveness play in your work with employees?

If you’re going to work with someone and leaving/firing isn’t appropriate or desired, you need to be able to handle differences and disappointments. I’ve never heard the word ‘forgiveness’ used in a business setting (religious or atheist) but the principal applies. Mind you, true forgiveness from a good manager would involve accepting people as they are and working with them to prevent issues. Like scheduling afternoon-only meetings for habitually tardy employees or parents whose kids sometimes miss the bus or have doctor’s visits, leaving time to review the work of employees with poor writing skills to make sure all memos are understood, etc.

If someone is fired, an employer would need to forgive the employees (or themselves) for hiring that individual or letting things escalate to that point.

2. How would you extend favor to an employee who is encountering difficulties?

Most employers have programs to let people “donate” sick or vacation leave to coworkers who need extra time off. Atheist bosses I know often make a point of approaching the individuals privately and letting them know that they’ll approve unpaid leave, flexible scheduling, or (if possible) working from home if that would assist the employee in working during difficult times. In addition, there are sometimes training opportunities, in-company classes/services, higher education programs, extra projects, etc, that are open to all. If they think it’s beneficial, a boss or coworker will make sure the employee-encountering-difficulties is aware of those and how to apply. Likewise, a good boss will assure the employee that their job is safe if they do decide to take advantage of the above.

3. What is your view of the importance of an applicant’s sexual orientation?

I’ve never had a problem working with or for people with gays or transsexuals, and I don’t see how the subject could possibly come up during the applicant process, anymore than I can see myself asking if the applicant is married or has kids. It’s possible that some applicants I assumed were straight (or married or fathers) were not and vice versa.

4. If your company has a bonus structure or profit sharing plan, how generous are you with your employees when it comes to profit sharing?

The atheist employers I’ve known tend to be very generous when profits allow allow. Bonuses and annual raises are freely rewarded to both good and less-than-stellar employees (although excellent employees get raises sooner) and dividends are shared with all employees equally.

5. To whom do you attribute the success you’ve had in your business?

To the people who did the work. Employees doing good work, consultants who tweaked business processes or improved technology, managers who ran the kind of day-to-day interferences that let everyone do their jobs without disruption, anyone who offered advice, emotional support, or suggestions for improvements, media people who wrote favorable reviews, etc. I might also credit chance-related events or situations that were no individual’s doing (this then involves crediting those employees who figured out how to turn those events to our favor).

Q3
If you are casting the role of a stereotypic flamboyant fashion designer makeover advisor for a TV show, then the appearance of flaming might be important, but you would have to conceal the wife if you don’t want her presence to spoil his image.

Other than that, what business is it of yours, how would you know, why would you want to, and why would you care?

Unless, of course, you were planning on using your position to get sexual favors, and looking for a suitable partner.