Spiritual values and practices in the workplace and employee stress and mental well-being

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether employees’ spiritual values and practices in the workplace attenuate occupational stress and work-related exhaustion, and promote mental well-being. Methods: Participants (N = 649) completed validated measures of mental well-being, occupational stress, and work-related exhaustion, as well as two newly developed measures of individual spiritual values and practices in the workplace. Results: Factor analysis confirmed that spirituality items belonged to two separate constructs. In logistic regression models, the Spiritual Values in the Workplace scale was positively associated with mental well-being and low occupational stress. The spiritual practices at work scale was positively associated with low work-related exhaustion. Conclusions: Employee spiritual values and practices, as well as workplace acceptance of such practices, appear to promote mental well-being and attenuate stress.