Introduction

Alongside schools and universities, vocations, professions and workplaces are themselves full of ideas about religion and belief. Some are explicit; many are not. These are spaces in which adults learn and relearn religion and belief, often for the first time since school. Here, the messages have their own flavour, once again distinctive from what may have come before. One dominant framing in workplaces is equality and diversity. This constructs religion and belief as potentially discriminatory and discriminated against. In doing so, religion and belief are once again thought of primarily in terms of risk. Another growing preoccupation is with spirituality and well-being in workplaces, often associated with the benefits of bringing the ‘whole person’ to work and engaging with the full scope of identities among service users. Within this, one suggestion is that ‘survey after management survey affirms that a majority wants to find meaning in their work’ (Garcia-Zamor, 2003: 360). This is especially prominent in health and social care, where religion and belief are manifest both in professional trainings and in regulatory standards for the professions. This chapter will explore both framings and consider how they connect and confuse.

Equality and diversity

The evidence on workplace religion and belief is very limited, though there is considerable work in relation to other identities, characterised as the ‘protected characteristics’ in equality law (ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability and ‘religion or belief ’). A key principle is engagement with every aspect of the person at work to ensure diverse recruitment, retention and career progression, as well as yielding income, market-reach and reputational benefits. The research most often cited is provided by the global consultancy firm McKinsey. This compares the financial performance of large organisations according to gender diversity at senior levels, and finds that high returns on equity are correlated with greater diversity. It also claims that ethnically diverse companies are 35 per cent more likely to outperform on outputs and gender-diverse ones are 15 per cent more likely to do so (McKinsey Analysis, 2010). It is notable that there are implications for religion and belief but that they are not acknowledged or addressed.