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.
