Religion joining the work force
TAMPA, Fla. — When Mark Dillon has a management problem, he heads straight to the Bible.
The president of closely held Tampa Bay Steel Corp. changed how the metals distributor pays its bills with help from the Book of Proverbs. He turned to the Book of Matthew for advice on dealing with a delinquent customer. Agonizing over a pre-Christmas layoff, he took comfort from Jesus’ admonition to “do to others what you would have them do to you.”
“I thought: ‘Do unto others,’ ” recalls Dillon. “If I was going to be laid off, I’d rather know before I spent all that money on Christmas presents.”
Dillon is one of a number of top executives using religion — especially evangelical Christianity — to guide decisions he makes each day at the office. The chief executive of staffing firm Kforce Inc. says Biblical principles led his finance chief to choose a pricier software vendor over a cheaper but less scrupulous one. The chairman of poultry producer Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. says he rejected a bank’s cost-cutting plan because it didn’t show enough compassion. Kforce and Pilgrim’s Pride are publicly traded.
Experts say U.S. workplaces have become more religiously diverse, forcing companies to rethink everything from vacation policies to the cafeteria menu. And though managers of all faiths are bringing a spiritual touch to the corner office, in the U.S., evangelical Christians are the most active.
Christian titles such as “Jesus, CEO” and “Joy at Work” appear on business best-seller lists. Christian publisher Thomas Nelson three years ago started a unit devoted to business books; in the year ended March 31, that division had $9.5 million in sales, 73 percent more than the year before. The business school of Regent University, which advertises on its Web site that it “supercharges students for success in God’s eyes,” saw enrollment rise 44 percent last year. And C12 Group — a network of executives, like Dillon, who meet monthly to discuss management trends and the tricky intersections of religion and commerce — has grown from three sets of 12 Christian business executives in 1992 to nearly 550 members today.
Christian managers say there’s no inherent contradiction between running a company — even a public one with its commitment to maximize shareholder value — and behaving spiritually. And lawyers say it’s generally not a problem to run a public company on faith-based principles, as long as the executives make those principles clear to shareholders, and make sure they don’t follow faith to the exclusion of investor interests.
Skeptics say religion in the executive suite can alienate people with other beliefs. Federal law prohibits discrimination in hiring or promotion on the basis of religion. Employers may express religious views as long as staffers of different faiths don’t feel pressured or unwelcome.
That leaves a lot open to interpretation. Complaints to the EEOC of workplace religious discrimination — mostly claims that employers didn’t accommodate religious requests — rose to 2,340 in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2005, from 1,581 in 1995. In contrast, complaints to the EEOC about workplace discrimination on the basis of race and sex each declined by more than 10 percent during the same period.
Dillon and others say executives can’t and shouldn’t separate their religious beliefs from their work. They say honesty, integrity and respect for family make good business sense and are core Christian principles. Dillon says at the office he stays away from hot-button issues like abortion.
Others say moral values transcend belief in a specific faith, or in God at all. “It’s not just a Christian thing,” explains Tampa Bay Steel purchasing manager Cordreanne Richardson, who says she believes in God but doesn’t share Dillon’s beliefs. “My upbringing is, you don’t mix religion and business,” she says. “But I still follow all these Christian principles with everyone I come in contact with.”