Meditation And Mindfulness At Work Are Welcome, But Do They Help Avoid Accountability For Toxic Culture?

In an age when home offices, hybrid work arrangements and blurred boundaries between work and personal life are the norm, a recently established narrative is intensifying: the integration of spirituality into business.

This idea involves deliberately incorporating personal values and meaningful purpose into all aspects of organisational life – from individual expression to workplace practices and corporate identity. It’s an approach that seeks to cultivate environments where employees can find deeper meaning in their work while contributing to both economic and social progress, as my past research in the Journal of Business Ethics shows.

Spirituality in business transcends traditional management methods by acknowledging the inner lives of workers, promoting their personal growth and fostering genuine community connections. According to a 2016 interview with Eileen Fisher, the founder and then CEO of a $450-million fashion brand, company meetings opened with the ring of a meditation bell followed by a minute of silence. Fisher said the practice allows employees “to get in touch with what they’re there for and what matters to them and show up a little differently” and has contributed to the company’s recognised leadership in sustainability and women’s advocacy.

But are all corporate efforts like these genuine attempts to foster well-being, or can they instead be strategies to rebrand productivity demands?

Spiritual well-being in business

The incorporation of spirituality into the workplace represents a shift in how businesses approach leadership, employee wellbeing and corporate culture.

Take ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s partnership with Greyston Bakery, a leader in social enterprise. Under their “linked prosperity” model, Ben & Jerry’s sources all brownies for its Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavour from Greyston, which operates with an “open hiring” policy that does not require a background check for applicants and provides “help with child care, housing and ESL (English as a second language) classes”. The partnership shows how valuing human dignity and community empowerment can reshape conventional business practices into drivers of social change.

Spiritual integration manifests in plenty of other ways, too. Morning gatherings can become spaces for shared reflection rather than mere status updates. Dedicated quiet rooms can offer sanctuary for contemplation or prayer. Through mentorship relationships and community service initiatives, workplaces can evolve into environments where individuals can explore deeper questions about purpose. US outdoor clothing company Patagonia describes how it offers paid environmental internships and flexible policies that enable employees to align their work lives with how they see their authentic selves. These offerings reflect the idea that while people come to work to earn a living, they stay and thrive when work nourishes their spirit.

The trend of integrating spirituality into the workplace taps into the practical wisdom of spiritual traditions, honed over millennia, to foster attributes like mindfulness, compassion and interconnectedness. But despite its benefits, integration – or lip service to it – risks becoming a convenient excuse for businesses to shift the responsibility for stress and burn-out onto employees instead of addressing systemic issues.

The rise and fall of WeWork illustrates this phenomenon. As documented in both Hulu’s “WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” and Apple TV+’s dramatic series “WeCrashed”, the workspace company masterfully leveraged spiritual rhetoric to attract young professionals. While the company promoted meditation spaces and wellness initiatives, these benefits masked issues including unsustainable work expectations, questionable management practices and a sexual assault claim. The disconnect between WeWork’s offerings and operational reality demonstrates how companies can appropriate spiritual practices only as a veneer.

When suits start talking spirit

When McKinsey & Company, a US management consulting firm that epitomizes corporate pragmatism, releases a podcast titled “Beyond 9 to 5: The power of spiritual health in the workplace”, it is clear that spirituality in business has moved beyond the fringe.

McKinsey’s global survey of 41,000 respondents, detailed in their May 2024 report “In search of self and something bigger: A spiritual health exploration”, found that spiritual health matters deeply to employees. But does this data reflect a genuine commitment to spirituality, or is it just a reflection of its currency in the corporate world?

After almost half a century of research on spirituality in business, it has become a mature field. The Academy of Management, “an association for management and organizational scholars”, recognised Management, Spirituality, and Religion as a Division, [“reflecting”] a broad range of member interests". Still, the corporate world’s interest is raising eyebrows: the suspicion remains that spirituality is merely being repackaged as a tool for enhancing productivity. In his 2019 book “McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality”, Ronald Purser illustrates this concern through Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” programme. While marketed as a path to employee wellness, the initiative exemplifies how meditation and mindfulness can be transformed into performance-enhancement tools, asking workers to develop “resilience” rather than addressing the root causes of workplace stress.

The whole self at work

The concept of bringing one’s “whole self” to work – a cornerstone of the Industry 5.0 concept promoted by the European Commission – emphasises employee authenticity. The idea of spirituality in the workplace intertwines with the idea of authentic self-expression, encompassing the recognition of one’s beliefs, values and quest for deeper meaning. These are dimensions historically excluded from professional settings. The idea is to create an environment where people can align their deepest motivations with their work.

While this ideal is noble in concept, it also raises complex questions about which aspects of our “whole selves” are appropriate to bring into the workplace. In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of a job applicant whom the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch refused to hire because her hijab conflicted with its dress code. Delta Airlines’ uniform policy revision last July illuminates the ongoing complexity of the issue. Following a controversy that began when a passenger made a social media post describing two flight attendants’ Palestinian flag pins – which were permitted under existing policy – as “Hamas badges”, the airline banned all national flag pins except US ones.

Juggling multiple selves

The promise of integrating our identities more seamlessly instead of compartmentalizing them features in the Apple TV series Severance. The show presents a dystopian take on work-life balance in which employees surgically separate their work and personal memories, inviting us to reflect on the identities we balance in our professional and personal lives. The character of Mark Scout, whose “innie” (work self) develops genuine connections with colleagues like Helly, demonstrates how even artificially separated selves seek authentic relationships and meaning. However, when these connections begin to flourish, employer Lumon Industries’ harsh punishments and control mechanisms kick in – suggesting that true workplace innovation and collaboration can only emerge when we’re allowed to bring our whole, unsevered selves to work.

By acknowledging and nurturing the various aspects of our personalities, we might attain new levels of connection in the workplace. But could the integration of spirituality and work lead to an environment where employees are perpetually “on”? A risk lies in creating a culture where work infiltrates every aspect of life, leaving no true respite. The very practices meant to nurture the spirit could paradoxically become tools that further blur the boundaries between professional obligations and personal renewal. A constant connection to work erodes personal boundaries, which can lead to stress and dissatisfaction that spills over into personal life. Addressing this “shadow side” is essential if we are to answer the question “Do you believe in life after work?” with a resounding yes.

A balanced approach

The integration of spirituality into business requires genuine commitment. While spiritual practices can bring multiple benefits, they must emerge from authentic values rather than serving as a quick fix for systemic issues.

Since the 1980s, when major corporations first explored Eastern spirituality, workplace spirituality has evolved into a $7.9 billion meditation market. But as companies invest in meditation apps and mindfulness programmes, they often fail to address the root causes of workplace stress and burn-out. Today, well-intentioned apps like CHILL Anywhere risk functioning as band-aids that place the burden of stress management on employees, instead of examining issues like unrealistic workloads, inadequate compensation, toxic leadership or prejudice.

Instrumentalizing spiritual practices into productivity tools fundamentally misses the point: true spirituality in business requires organizations to critically examine and transform the structural conditions that create employee suffering in the first place. Until companies commit to addressing these foundational issues, meditation rooms and mindfulness apps will remain superficial solutions that enable rather than challenge harmful workplace dynamics.

The future workplace should aim to harmonise profit and purpose, recognising that employee well-being is integral to long-term success. Spirituality in business manifests when organisations commit to both business excellence and human flourishing – addressing foundational concerns while nurturing deeper meaning and purpose. Only then can the promise of bringing our whole selves to work become a reality worth believing in.

Raysa Geaquinto Rocha ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.