With inclusion in mind, what is the place of faith in the workplace? Josh Jennings reports.

Optometry practice owner Janelle Macnamara says a chaplain visits her operation each week to chew the fat with staff. Macnamara could have hired a counsellor or a clinical professional but she wanted a chaplain.

"He's got a lot of ability to call on psychological knowledge and counselling knowledge but as well as a lot of spirituality, for want of a better term," she says. "He's not a Bible basher but he's able to touch on a deeper meaning that perhaps a counsellor might not be able to. And depending on the person, I'm sure he can go to different levels, whether it's for religious people or for atheists."

Australian Bureau of Statistics Census figures from 2006 show that the majority of Australians report an affiliation with a religion. So it's no surprise religion is entrenched in the lives of many workers. But what are the implications when people bring religion to work? As a corporate chaplain, Reverend Stephen Hayles sees many workers for whom spirituality and faith play significant roles in their lives. He says employees with access to a religious or spiritual lifeline on the job often see their work in a different light.

"I think it enables them to become a whole person," he says. "They see themselves as more than their job because there is a dimension to themselves that they can recognise and embrace. It gives them another dimension to their working life, I think."

Macnamara, who describes herself as spiritual rather than religious, believes her spirituality affects her working life.

"I try to be honest and fair in all that I do and I think that is because of my philosophies," she says.

A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 2007 shows that one-third of British companies are developing explicit policies on managing religious beliefs in the workplace. The chief executive of diversity consultancy Diversity@Work, Mark Heaysman, says creating a work environment that accommodates religious diversity has its perks.

"The more you can make a place seem inclusive, the better," he says. "So if a place feels like it has the ability to provide people with a spiritual safety net or an environment where they can be themselves again, that will be a positive employment place for many people."

The ways employers aim to create more faith-friendly workplaces include allowing staff time off for occasions of religious observance, providing them with time and facilities in the workplace for prayer and contemplation, and permitting them to express their faith through dress and jewellery.

An academic with Monash University's department of management, Dr Andrea Howell, says making religion and spirituality more visible in the workplace creates a variety of challenges, however.

"You're exposing yourself more if you come out in a workplace situation and say these values and the spiritual aspect of yourself is really important and sometimes that might hold you up for ridicule," she says. "People might not understand that aspect of yourself. Others may see it as a weakness in the workplace. For example, if you hold the wanting to be of service to others in high regard and you try to operationalise that, some might see that as a weakness. It doesn't fit in with the expectations or norms of what a workplace should be."

The consequences can be grim. At a consultation hosted by the South Australian Equal Opportunity Commission in 2003, a number of experiences of religious vilification in the workplace were recounted. One dental technician faced an ultimatum to remove her headscarf or lose her job (for bringing religion into the dental laboratory) and another employee was screened for bombs on the basis of religion and race.

The chief executive of Diversity Council Australia, Nareen Young, says there are comprehensive legislative provisions to address discrimination in the workplace but sites that take legislation against religious discrimination seriously are not the same as workplaces that engage in practices to be faith-friendly. "Legislation is never going to stop people from behaving without manners," she says.

"There are still some people who think the workplace is the place to articulate their personal view about other people and their religion, sexuality or any number of things.

"There is a difference between the two and we know that - otherwise, the human rights jurisdictions and tribunals would be out of business. A lot of applications are made for complaints to be heard and that's the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more that's investigated in workplaces and, of course, most things don't get complained about - people just move to another job."

Ms Young says it's the "leading-edge" businesses that take a proactive approach to creating workplaces that facilitate inter-faith acceptance. But in trying to promote interfaith acceptance, how do businesses decide how overt employees can be in their expression of faith and spirituality at work? And how do employees determine whether they are acting within the boundaries?

Dr Howell says the line between what is and isn't acceptable religious and spiritual expression at work can be fine. When it's too fine, the tension escalates, she adds.

"There has to be some discussion and there has to be some agreement that there is a place for it and exactly what that place is," she says. "I know of an organisation that has 10 minutes of silence and meditation time before they begin their work in the morning and [there's] an agreement in the workplace that that occurs.

"Obviously, new recruits to that organisation are told about that so it doesn't come as a surprise and they can make up their minds.

"When there's approval in the workplace for those sorts of things to happen, then I think it's OK and not such a fine line is crossed. But when there is no agreement and it hasn't been discussed widely in the workplace, it can be quite contentious."

Is religion part of your workday? Have your say at http://www.mycareer.com.au/vote