Are paycheques and career growth prospects the only things that get people going in the workplaces?
While the physical and psychological dimensions of workplaces have been studied extensively over the years and worked upon, the spiritual quotient of our workplaces has not been attended to in a focused manner although we were aware of its need and existence. So what do we exactly mean by “Spirituality at Workplace”?
In the context of workplaces, spirituality does not mean having religious beliefs. It is more about finding the true self in relation to the surroundings, establishing a connect between the two value systems – Individual & Organizational, it is about people sharing and experiencing some common attachment and togetherness have drawn by a common purpose, within the organizational ecosystem. An employee evolves best as an individual and also as a professional in a work environment that enables him/her to discover the self and create a positive engagement with self, others, and the workplace environment.
How does the Future Workplace going to look like?
“The future workplaces would be characterized by flexible employee-employer relationships (Gig Employment), Multi-Generation Employees, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning & Robotics, Flat organization structures resembling micro villages that have no barriers between employees and executives, remote working through technology, seamless integration of professional & social lives at the workplace.”
The Future Workforce or the Millennial Generation is known for their social awareness and consciousness will also define workplace values.
A steady wave of young talented employees is in the offing, gearing up to take on corporate roles in a big way. Tagged as “Gen Y” employees, these tech-savvy, socially connected individuals along with their predecessors are fast influencing and defining trends – right from office layout, communication modes to training & learning methods, companies are rethinking strategies to meet the expectations of these budding league of talents. These “digital natives” who view technology as a key to their professional and personal lives are adept at multi-tasking and they look for variety in their job skills. Company bottom-lines or fatter pay cheques hold little value; what gains precedence is the corporate culture, its social impact and a sense of belonging to that culture for these new-age employees. The future workplace environment would witness a transformation – today’s talent or even the future talent is more attached to the day to day experience they have at the workplace. So the biggest challenge for an organization is to create and sustain a work environment where the best talent wants to stay. Another change that is impacting the workplace is that the talent wants to be involved and informed, they want to contribute more towards the success of the organization than just their work profiles and prefers an open culture. The workforce of tomorrow is very aspirational and managing their aspirations will be the biggest factor in retaining high potential talent.
Workplaces have become places where people spend most of their lives, develop friendships, create value and make their most meaningful contribution to society. Thus, work has meanings beyond the “nine to five” working hours. For some employees, work and colleagues have taken the place of families. However, together with the increasing importance and centrality in people’s lives, associated problems like stress, burnouts, and workaholism have increased.
Although spirituality is not a new phenomenon but spirituality at the workplace is still in its’ early stages. Spirituality at the workplace leads to improved ethical behavior at a personal level and an enhanced ethical climate/culture at the organizational level. Being in touch with spiritual principles and values helps to stimulate the moral imaginations of individuals and can provide a depth of understanding of the many ethical challenges that arise in business.
The most acknowledged definition of workplace spirituality is one put forward by Giacalone&Jurkiewicz. They define workplace spirituality as those aspects of the workplace, either in the individual, the group, or the organization, that promote individual feelings of satisfaction through transcendence.
Companies are now looking at the Spiritual Quotient of their workplaces because they have now understood that employees are not satisfied with materialistic things, they are looking for more than that. Every human being has both an inner and outer life and the nourishment of the inner life can lead to a more meaningful and productive outer life. For the nourishment of inner life employees desire that the work which they are doing must have some meaning in their lives, they desire to work in the community and they desire the feeling of compassion impact towards others at the workplace.
To be effective, spirituality needs to be integrated into the corporate culture and reflected in the organizational policies and practices on a daily basis. This can be done only when the organizational leadership embraces it as part of their vision. Spirituality may also have negative effects when it is adopted as an imposition of some religion in the workplace. The new generation workforce is typically religion agnostic and hence any spiritual imposition will become counter-productive.
Spirituality is about bringing about heart, soul, and spirit to what we do because from a spiritual perspective, work has a deeper meaning and a higher purpose. The new generation workplace must ensure that the work which the new generation employees do provide them with a holistic and meaningful experience. Spirituality at the workplace while one hand ensures high morale, commitment, productivity on the other it leads to a reduction in stress, burnout, and workaholism.
The future workplaces must ensure the following in order to practice spirituality at the workplace:
- The organization must be purpose-driven and meaning-based.
- Management with a mission in place of management of efficiency and control.
- Create an affection – based from a fear-based culture.
- Organizational practices and decision-making to be consistent with the spiritual values such as integrity, trust, honesty, care, mutual respect and nurturing.
- Employees are valued based on who they are, what they can become rather they can do for the company.
- Employees will be treated in a responsible, respectful and caring manner.
- Provide an environment wherein the leadership team truly listens and builds a safe workplace where employees can open up and speak the truth without the fear of repercussions.
- Hierarchical walls to be broken down to create a sense of community and inspire a sense of belongingness.
- Set up policies and create practices that facilitate and foster diversity in culture, ideas, and thoughts.
- Employees should be allowed to make mistakes as long as they learn from every mistake not repeating the same mistake. This is because; spirituality can spread its wings only in the absence of fear. The fear of losing a job, of a pay cut or of demotion are nothing but demotivating factors for employees which hampers their productivity as well as serves as a barrier to spiritual growth since it blocks their potential to be ready to experiment, change and innovate.
Business is more than just business. The future workplaces or organizations need to consider employees’ need for meaning and spirituality in order to unleash their full potential. In the wake of recent corporate debacles across the globe as well as in India, the organizations and their leadership are more open and willing to take spirituality more seriously for creating sustainable organizations. This trend will endure, simply because it speaks to the deeper needs of the human heart, and provides a promising remedy to work-related stress. While a direct co-relation between Spirituality and Profitability may be difficult to establish, but a spiritually enlightened organization would create a more compassionate, caring and ethical workplace.
