Chaplain’s program

I think the chaplain should be placed in an separate office or area where employees could have the option to come to him instead of the other way around.

I would recommend treating the chaplain as any other person who might casually ask you how you or your family is doing. Smile politely and say “I’m fine, thanks,” or “We’re great!” Then, go on with your work.

If your boss seems uncomfortable with you not participating, make it a point to sit down with him and speak honestly, but respectfully. Tell him who your confidants are: your husband, your mother, your friends, and explain to him that your spirituality is a very personal issue to you, just like other family matters and decisions that you deal with only within the family.

Hopefully, he’ll understand, and appreciate your respect and honesty.

This is creepy and offensive–however if you feel that way, too, you should probably keep that to yourself. It’s ok to tell your boss or the chaplain or whoever that you hold your religious beliefs (whatever they are or are not) very privately, and prefer to keep them separate from your work environment.

Wow! This is a nice service to offer associates. I myself am involved in ministry along with my husband who is a pastor. If I were the manager, or even the chaplain, I would be concerned with the privacy of my employees and would definitely offer this service in a private manner. I agree with the 2 comments made above, that the service should not be invasive of the individual’s comfort level and it should be offered in a way that does not conflict with the operation of the business or personal beliefs (as it could become an issue of harassment in the workplace or misuse of company assets (i.e., time), and therefore, could be removed as a “benefit” altogether). I think if people utilize this offer you will see a big difference in the morale and attitude of the office. Don’t be afraid to talk with your manager or the owner about your concerns and make some suggestions. Chances are he hasn’t thought of these details and hopefully would welcome the input.

Corporate Chaplaincies are becoming very popular in today’s business world. They are not illegal, discriminatory, nor (most of the time) are they invasive. More often than not they increase employee morale as well as productivity because they provide an avenue for employees to discuss issues that many employees would not otherwise talk about.

That said, you should not feel bad or intimidated to answer the chaplains questions honestly and respectfully. E.g. “How is your family?” “Fine, thank you.” “Do you have anything you want to discuss?” “No, thank you.” End of conversation. 999 times out of 1000 The chaplain and the owner of the company will be fine with that. Everybody wins when we communicate openly, honestly and respectfully.

Find yourself another job – this guy is a nut case! There is no really way for you to gracefully excuse yourself without being obvious and looking bad in the eyes of your boss. You will always stand out as the person who “refused” to participate. It’s a losing battle.

Honestly, what he is doing is against the law – the Federal law. Of course, if you tell him that, you will really be in a pickle!

Although I consider myself a person of faith, I would find this extremely offensive at work. It’s wrong to put your employees on the spot and expect them to deal with this chaplain each time. I think your boss is way out of line. He shouldn’t expect everyone in his employ to share his religious views. Besides, most of us who feel a need to talk to a religious can find them at our local churches. I would simply tell the chaplain that you’re not part of the program and respond with an “I’m fine, thanks.”

My Solution: Create a sign up sheet. This sheet should have: Name and Time at the top. You could probably do this in Word or Excel. Once you create this form, set up a 30 minute meeting with your boss. Explain the need to have a sign up sheet, which is to allow everyone who is interested an opportunity to speak with the Chaplin. Show him your version of what the sheet should look like. This should open the door for dialog. During this dialog, you can also suggest setting up a conference room where the Chaplin can sit and wait for the people to come to him during their scheduled time verse the Chaplin going to the employees. This eliminates interruptions and will be more productive. Hopefully, when you explain the need to be productive in the workplace he may jump on the idea. Good Luck and let us know the end result.

What an awkward situation! No one wants to offend the boss, but it’s not fair of him to put people on the spot.

I believe it’s wrong to push your religious beliefs on anyone else, regardless of the setting. I deeply respect the spiritual beliefs of others, but think that spirituality is a personal, private matter and should certainly be kept out of the workplace. I myself am an agnostic, and hope others respect that as much as I respect their religious beliefs.

Although you’ve been told you don’t have to participate, you are being forced to by the manner the chaplain is using to “pop in” on everyone. Tell your boss that you feel put on the spot and pressured to participate, even though they say you don’t have to. I think you should be tactful but honest. He probably doesn’t realize that not everyone welcomes this type of contact. You shouldn’t have to deal with this week after week!

I ran this situation by our Human Resources department, and one of them said, “Interesting…he’s just asking for trouble. As long as he keeps it voluntary – and they should keep the minister in a private area. By confronting the employees, even a friendly confrontation, it’s no longer voluntary. Sticky situation…”

The sign-up sheet idea is logical, but runs into HIPAA problems because anyone signing sees the names of everyone who signed before (even more of a problem if you ‘Post’ the sign-up sheet in a central area) – Medical offices have changed their sign-in format to accommodate this by having each signature/sign-in line peel-off, like a computer label, (with a duplicate ‘carbon’ sheet underneath for their records). Of course, the list must be constantly monitored by someone who removes the peel-off strips between sign-ins.

Call Human Resources. Pronto.

What a landslide of comments! Interesting! You should not be pressured into anything, but I think you can just smile and say, “no, thank you” to any counseling. If your boss is providing this service on company time, I think that’s generous. I’ve used my EAP benefit twice, and it’s helped me enormously, but it’s a struggle to get counseling after work hours. If he hired a Lutheran chaplain and all of his employees are Hindu, then I’d think something was a little off, but it doesn’t sound like this is the case. And I don’t agree that spirituality has no part in the workplace. Our spirituality (however we define it) has a huge impact on our business moral standards, our work ethic, how well we treat others. I think society is discovering that more we try to bifurcate these issues, the colder, lonelier and more morally bankrupt we become.

I think the intent behind the idea was probably a good one. However, I don’t think the idea itself a good one. Why should the employees not involved in the program have to stop working, long enough to politely respond to the chaplain’s questions,in the first place? Chaplains belong in a church, not work.