Corporate chaplaincy, spirituality and wellness : a post-foundational practical theological exploration

Abstract

The research explores the themes of corporate chaplaincy, workplace spirituality and employee wellness, and their relationship to each other. The question is asked if the corporate chaplain has a contribution to make through the multi-disciplinary helping team in achieving and maintaining employee wellness. The method of study is postfoundational and relies upon three stages of research: an acknowledgement of the local context through the dialogue with twelve co-researchers; a process of transversality that includes a discussion with nine interdisciplinary respondents and traditions of interpretation; and a response that explores a preferred alternative reality for, and beyond, the local context. The stage of acknowledgement reveals several emerging themes that highlight the value of a workplace spirituality in employee wellness, but in which spirituality is an identified gap in wellness progs. The discussion explores the value of spirituality in wellness and the obstacles in the development of workplace spirituality and the employ of corporate chaplains. The response requires a revisiting the title of "corporate chaplaincy" noting the unhelpful assumptions that the title makes. The response includes a definition of workplace spirituality that communicates the value of a workplace spirituality and the workplace spiritual helper to help overcome the obstacles of religious plurality, secularism, and an unhelpful religiosity. The response of affirming spirituality in achieving and maintaining wellness for the employee and the corporate through the corporate chaplain requires the establishment of a registered professional body. In recognising the present difficulty in appointing corporate chaplains, alternative forms of developing workplace spirituality are suggested.