METHODOLOGICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

In recent years, employee well-being, psychological safety, and support in difficult situations, such as mobbing or conflicts at work, have been increasingly discussed and written about. However, practice shows that assistance often remains unavailable or insufficient. Conducting research, employees and pastoral care providers were surveyed to explore what role chaplains and spiritual assistants can play in providing support to employees and why the potential of spiritual assistance resources they offer often remains untapped.

Main recommendations are concisely presented below. They are practice-oriented and designed to help clearly outline basic principles, seeking that pastoral response to psychological violence is not limited to episodic initiatives.

1. Training of chaplains and spiritual assistants

Problem: Training of chaplains is oriented to general pastoral care practice; while that of spiritual assistants, to patients’ pastoral care; therefore, pastoral care providers are not properly prepared to act in a specific work environment (e.g., in cases of mobbing, conflicts, crises).

Distribution of responsibilities:

Diocese:

• plans specific areas of chaplains’ training;
• establishes minimum standards of competencies;
• ensures continuous professional development.

Educational institutions (seminaries, higher education institutions)

• include the following topics related to organizational practice in their study programs:
  • how to recognize employees’ spiritual and religious needs;
  • how to recognize psychological violence, including mobbing;
  • how to respond to conflicts and resolve them;
  • how the organization operates (management, personnel department, other structures);
  • what are personal and organizational causes of interpersonal conflicts;
• include practice placements in organizations, where chaplains observe how employees’ problems are resolved, participate in interdisciplinary teams (together with a personnel specialist or psychologist);
• organize continuing training for practitioners.

2. Role definition

Problem: When there are no clear boundaries, the chaplain or spiritual assistant may be involved in activities that are not part of their usual duties.

Distribution of responsibilities:

Diocese:

• prepares a clear description of the role of the chaplain and spiritual assistant (what they do and do not do in the organization);
• establishes basic work rules (e.g., confidentiality, independence, nature of assistance);
• clearly states that the pastoral care provider is not subordinate to the organization’s management in representing employees’ pastoral interests;
• develops a mandatory code of ethics for providers of pastoral care for employees.

Organisation:

• agrees in writing with the chaplain what he is responsible for (e.g., employees’ counselling, accompanying, referral) and what he does not do (e.g., does not investigate conflicts, does not make managerial decisions);
• clearly specifies to whom the chaplain reports (e.g., on administrative matters, to the organization; on the content and pastoral practice, to the religious institution);
• outlines how confidential information is protected (e.g., conversations with employees are not shared with management);
• informs employees of the chaplain’s role and how to contact him;
• does not include the chaplain in decisions that could undermine his independence (e.g., disciplinary procedures).

Chaplain, spiritual assistant:

• acts as an assistance provider, not as a representative of the organization (does not represent management in resolving conflicts);
• clearly stays within the boundaries of his competence (does not provide psychological therapy or legal advice if he lacks competencies to do this);
• refers the employee to other specialists when the problem goes beyond his competence;
• maintains confidentiality and clearly communicates this to employees;
• refuses to take part in activities that may violate trust in him (e.g., provision of information to management about a specific employee, performance of administrative functions).

3. Organisation of activities

Problem: There is no defined sequence of actions and division of responsibilities; therefore, the assistance process is not coordinated and depends on the initiatives of individual pastoral care providers.

Division of responsibilities:

Organization:

• ensures that the chaplain or spiritual assistant is present in the organization on a regular basis rather than episodically or “as needed”;
• determines the number of chaplains or spiritual assistants, considering the size of the organization;
• creates conditions for the chaplain or spiritual assistant to act independently and confidentially (provides a room for individual conversations without outsiders);
• clearly informs employees when and how they can turn to the chaplain;
• finances the development of competencies of chaplains or spiritual assistants.

Pastoral care provider:

• engages in the assistance process together with other specialists when this is necessary to resolve the employee’s situation (e.g., in more complex cases);
• operates according to the procedure established in the organization (knows when to get involved, when to refer to another specialist);
• maintains a working relationship with other professionals (e.g., a psychologist), without violating confidentiality;
• clearly communicates his role (e.g., what he can offer the employee and where the limits of his competence are);
• helps coordinate assistance so that the employee does not get lost among different sources of assistance.

4. Involvement of the community

Problem: Religious communities can provide the necessary social support, help the victim reintegrate into society; however, in practice they are almost not involved (it is not clear who should organize this and how).

Diocese:

• develops an operating model outlining how parishes can get involved in helping workers (not only religious practices but also support, accompaniment; joint activities);
• appoints responsible persons (e.g., priests, pastoral care providers) to whom the chaplain can directly refer the employee;
• creates and constantly updates a list of contacts (who can assist people and where, what kind of help is provided);
• defines what kind of assistance the community can actually provide (e.g., conversations, support, involvement in activities);
• ensures that community members to whom employees are referred are ready to receive people (at least minimally trained or informed).

Below is a checklist of questions for organizers of pastoral care for employees.

Checklist of questions