How on earth does spirituality fit into the workplace?
- Philly Powell
- Sep 2
- 3 min read
Workplaces love to talk about their “holistic wellbeing framework”. They’ll fund gym memberships, offer EAP counselling, and host sugary morning teas. But when it comes to spirituality — or wairua, as we call it in Aotearoa — the framework is often silent on this important aspect of wellbeing.
In Te Whare Tapa Whā, Sir Mason Durie’s model for holistic wellbeing, wairua is one of the four essential walls of the whare (house), alongside tinana (physical), hinengaro (mental/emotional), and whānau (social). If one wall is weak, the house cannot stand. Yet in most workplace wellbeing programmes, wairua is either missing entirely or reduced to a token gesture.
That silence has consequences.
What happens without wairua?
Strip spirituality out of the workplace and you’re left with:
Pure transaction – outputs, deadlines, numbers
Material-driven culture – rewards are financial, growth and purpose ignored
Disconnection – from each other, from the organisation’s purpose, from community
Surface-level initiatives – cupcakes and posters instead of depth and systemic change
No reflection – no moments of pause, gratitude, or meaning
Secular-only stance – fear of values-based expression because it feels “too personal”
Nature-absent spaces – sterile offices with no connection to whenua or natural rhythms
Authority-only leadership – bosses, not humans.
Put simply: a workplace without wairua is flat, transactional, and soulless.
People may achieve, but they do not thrive.
Why we’re afraid of wairua at work
When I asked Paula Shaw why workplaces avoid spirituality, she went straight to the bigger picture: “It’s profit over people. Industrialisation and capitalism cut us off from ritual, nature, and community — and workplaces still carry that legacy.”
This isn’t just a corporate discomfort. It’s systemic. We’ve been conditioned to believe that bringing meaning, ritual, or belonging into work is “unproductive.” Worse — that it might make people stop working altogether.
Paula disagrees: “Most people don’t want to leave their jobs. They want to contribute. Meaning doesn’t threaten work — it makes us better at it.”
The misconception about spirituality
Part of the problem is our extreme view of spirituality. Too often, it’s framed as blowing up your life — quitting your job, leaving your partner, running off to Bali – or some kind of extreme religion.
But that’s not the point. As Paula put it: “Spirituality doesn’t mean abandoning your life. It’s simply about finding meaning and belonging in what you do.”
In other words: spirituality is not a disruption to work. It’s what makes work human.
Work without spirit is soulless: Weaving wairua back into work
So what might it look like to take spirituality seriously in the workplace? Not with posters or platitudes, but with authentic, embedded practice.
🌿 Connect work to values and purpose
🌿 Rituals and moments of presence
🌿 Culturally grounded practices
🌿 Sacred spaces for reflection and pause
🌿 Storytelling that builds shared humanity
🌿 Gratitude and authentic celebration
🌿 Respect for diverse beliefs
🌿 Reconnection with nature and whenua
🌿 Leadership that role-models authenticity and vulnerability
A provocation to consider
If workplaces continue to ignore wairua, they’ll keep producing hollow cultures where people function but don’t flourish.
But if we dare to bring spirituality back into work, we unlock something deeper. Not everyone will walk away from their jobs — but many will finally find a reason to stay.
Many workplaces are already touching on spirituality without naming it, but true spiritual wellbeing means helping people find meaning beyond just profit and productivity. It’s about supporting employees to connect with their purpose and find meaning, agency, and alignment in life and work.
As Paula said: “If people started to feel who they really are, it wouldn’t collapse workplaces — it would strengthen them.”
Paula challenged the old model of “wellbeing for profit” and highlighted that workplaces with more democracy and employee voice tend to foster deeper fulfilment.
It’s time to stop treating spirituality as “too personal” and start seeing it as what it really is: the missing piece of workplace wellbeing and a culture with energetic lifeforce ✨
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