n today’s competitive global marketplace, businesses are in a “war” for attracting talent—a war that has only intensified in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, companies such as Accenture, Dell Technologies, and Google have discovered a key best practice to attracting and retaining top talent: recognizing faith and belief within their diversity–equity–inclusion (DEI) and employee wellness programs. Companies that are serious about successfully competing in the war for talent should take note and follow suit.
Many companies already recognize the critical importance of DEI and employee wellness to attracting and retaining the best talent. The growth in these initiatives is backed by hundreds of studies demonstrating the positive benefits of diversity-supportive and wellness-focused climates, including more engaged and better performing workforces. And since people are the most important asset of any company, it follows that when employees perform better, companies perform better.
With that in mind, businesses have typically designed DEI efforts around recognizing individual identities related to race, gender, and sexual orientation. Although these are essential components of any DEI strategy, a comprehensive strategy must also include faith and belief. One reason is that 84% of the world's population identifies as religious, and all but one of the 10 fastest growing economies since 2017 are countries with large majority religious populations. Furthermore, even in regions where religiosity is declining, religious diversity is increasing. Thus, to attract top global talent as well as reach diverse global customers, businesses must understand the role faith plays in individual identity. Like gender, race, and sexual orientation, faith is an aspect of identity that employees bring with them to work, and studies show that employees in faith-friendly organizations have higher job satisfaction, better productivity, and lower burnout. What’s more, research has shown that companies with a commitment to religious inclusion have higher levels of inclusion in other identity areas, including race, gender, and sexual orientation.
One approach to fostering religious inclusion is creating faith-based employee resource groups (ERGs). For example, Walmart’s Faith and Vocation ERG has a mission to “connect, collaborate and celebrate associates of all faiths to make a difference for our company, our customer, and our communities.” Similarly, Google’s Inter Belief Network aims to “create a culture of inclusion, tolerance, and mutual understanding at Google for a diversity of beliefs.” Such efforts have been very successful for companies that have implemented them. At Salesforce, for example, the Faithforce ERG quickly became one of the fastest growing ERGs in the company's history after its launch in 2017. As one Salesforce employee stated, “I am here at Salesforce because of Faithforce. I was at [another company] and I didn’t feel allowed to pray. I heard about Faithforce and I quit, and now I’m here.”
Besides including faith and belief in DEI efforts, companies should also recognize faith and belief as critical components of wellness. This approach is backed by decades of research, including a recent study by McKinsey in which thousands of respondents listed spiritual health as one of four “extremely” or “very important” aspects of their overall health. Further, a Gallup study—to be published on World Mental Health Day this year—showed people with a greater commitment to spirituality or religion reported greater well-being in terms of experiencing more positive emotions, better social connections, and higher community engagement. Studies have also found links between religious involvement and lower rates of depression, suicide, addiction, and isolation.
Despite well-documented successes from incorporating faith into DEI and wellness efforts, a recent Deseret News/HarrisX poll found that nearly 40% of employees report keeping their religion secret from peers and supervisors for fear of repercussions. At the same time, the poll found that over 75% of business leaders express the opinion that “it’s good for company culture” for employees to be open about their faith, and that "discussions about religious beliefs make workers happier." Why the conundrum? Why do business leaders recognize the need for faith and belief at work but feel unable to address it? Often, business leaders are unsure of how to address faith and belief at work.
To this end, stakeholders should work to cultivate a more personal, positive place for faith within modern society. Radiant Foundation’s Coalition for Faith & Media is doing so, gathering insights from research and corporate best practice to develop playbooks for leaders who want to learn to address faith and belief at work.
In the end, every business is built by its people, and if companies want to fully engage their people in building the business, they must engage with their employees fully. To do this, successful companies will not only continue making DEI and wellness efforts central to their talent management strategy, but they will extend the scope of those efforts to include faith and belief. A failure to do so is a failure to recognize and empower a core aspect of individual identity and wellness.
a global affairs media network
Business Should Care About Faith
Image courtesy of Aaron Burden via Unsplash.
October 10, 2023
Labor markets are tight everywhere, and businesses are competing intensely to attract talent. The companies that do best are those which have discovered the nexus of employee wellbeing and the inclusion of faith in DEI initiatives, write Paul Lambert and Stephen Courtright.
I
n today’s competitive global marketplace, businesses are in a “war” for attracting talent—a war that has only intensified in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, companies such as Accenture, Dell Technologies, and Google have discovered a key best practice to attracting and retaining top talent: recognizing faith and belief within their diversity–equity–inclusion (DEI) and employee wellness programs. Companies that are serious about successfully competing in the war for talent should take note and follow suit.
Many companies already recognize the critical importance of DEI and employee wellness to attracting and retaining the best talent. The growth in these initiatives is backed by hundreds of studies demonstrating the positive benefits of diversity-supportive and wellness-focused climates, including more engaged and better performing workforces. And since people are the most important asset of any company, it follows that when employees perform better, companies perform better.
With that in mind, businesses have typically designed DEI efforts around recognizing individual identities related to race, gender, and sexual orientation. Although these are essential components of any DEI strategy, a comprehensive strategy must also include faith and belief. One reason is that 84% of the world's population identifies as religious, and all but one of the 10 fastest growing economies since 2017 are countries with large majority religious populations. Furthermore, even in regions where religiosity is declining, religious diversity is increasing. Thus, to attract top global talent as well as reach diverse global customers, businesses must understand the role faith plays in individual identity. Like gender, race, and sexual orientation, faith is an aspect of identity that employees bring with them to work, and studies show that employees in faith-friendly organizations have higher job satisfaction, better productivity, and lower burnout. What’s more, research has shown that companies with a commitment to religious inclusion have higher levels of inclusion in other identity areas, including race, gender, and sexual orientation.
One approach to fostering religious inclusion is creating faith-based employee resource groups (ERGs). For example, Walmart’s Faith and Vocation ERG has a mission to “connect, collaborate and celebrate associates of all faiths to make a difference for our company, our customer, and our communities.” Similarly, Google’s Inter Belief Network aims to “create a culture of inclusion, tolerance, and mutual understanding at Google for a diversity of beliefs.” Such efforts have been very successful for companies that have implemented them. At Salesforce, for example, the Faithforce ERG quickly became one of the fastest growing ERGs in the company's history after its launch in 2017. As one Salesforce employee stated, “I am here at Salesforce because of Faithforce. I was at [another company] and I didn’t feel allowed to pray. I heard about Faithforce and I quit, and now I’m here.”
Besides including faith and belief in DEI efforts, companies should also recognize faith and belief as critical components of wellness. This approach is backed by decades of research, including a recent study by McKinsey in which thousands of respondents listed spiritual health as one of four “extremely” or “very important” aspects of their overall health. Further, a Gallup study—to be published on World Mental Health Day this year—showed people with a greater commitment to spirituality or religion reported greater well-being in terms of experiencing more positive emotions, better social connections, and higher community engagement. Studies have also found links between religious involvement and lower rates of depression, suicide, addiction, and isolation.
Despite well-documented successes from incorporating faith into DEI and wellness efforts, a recent Deseret News/HarrisX poll found that nearly 40% of employees report keeping their religion secret from peers and supervisors for fear of repercussions. At the same time, the poll found that over 75% of business leaders express the opinion that “it’s good for company culture” for employees to be open about their faith, and that "discussions about religious beliefs make workers happier." Why the conundrum? Why do business leaders recognize the need for faith and belief at work but feel unable to address it? Often, business leaders are unsure of how to address faith and belief at work.
To this end, stakeholders should work to cultivate a more personal, positive place for faith within modern society. Radiant Foundation’s Coalition for Faith & Media is doing so, gathering insights from research and corporate best practice to develop playbooks for leaders who want to learn to address faith and belief at work.
In the end, every business is built by its people, and if companies want to fully engage their people in building the business, they must engage with their employees fully. To do this, successful companies will not only continue making DEI and wellness efforts central to their talent management strategy, but they will extend the scope of those efforts to include faith and belief. A failure to do so is a failure to recognize and empower a core aspect of individual identity and wellness.
