What makes a Christian employer Christian? When an employee signs on to a company that claims to be Christian, there is an expectation that the Christian values touted in the mission and vision statements will extend to the employees. It is a shock when this is not found to be true and that employees are treated like chattel and not like brothers/sisters in Christ. Does just flying a flag saying, "We are Christians!" translate to "Yes, this is indeed a Christian organization" or is there something more?
**Caveat: This piece will not address the joys of TEACHING, the wonders of student breakthroughs, the beauty of relationship-building. That happened IN SPITE of the conditions described below.
Once upon a time found myself in a situation where this question is pressing in my mind. With excitement I accepted a position where I felt I would be part of a Christian family joined together in a worthy mission.I had been part of two amazing Christian schools that were exactly that (Akron & Sparta), so my expectations and joy joy seemed fully appropriate. That excitement soon turned to discouragement, dismay, and ultimately despair as I discovered that teachers were merely cogs in a machine. If a cog was broken from lack of maintenance/care, then a new one was found. So much so that most of the staff was new. When I resigned, the principal asked me, "What happened to the excited, passionate woman I hired?" I said, "You tell me."
One thing that took its toll on that excited, passionate woman was that she was cooked. She was standing on her feet in an exceedingly hot classroom without circulation for the lion's share of an eight-hour workday. Professional clothes stuck to her body, sweat pouring from her face. At 7am the classroom started out in the 80s from August through September and went up throughout the day. The first five and a half hours of the day were spent standing/walking and sweating with a less than 20 minute break before more of the same. The more bodies in the room, the higher the temp (afternoon there were generally 30 bodies, the majority adult-sized). Even heat at temperatures of 80F has a marked effect on human performance and health. See https://www.ehstoday.com/health/news/heat-stress-affects-performance-7791 The OSHA technical manual recommends employers maintain workplace temperatures in the range of 68-76 degrees Fahrenheit and along with humidity control. For 8 weeks I worked in conditions over 85F with humidity ranging from 58 to 90%. There were many days with classroom temps at 86 and a heat index of 79, that gave a classroom real-feel of 96F. During the severe Ohio heat wave, temperatures were greater but I did not have a gauge set up.
On October 3rd, the effect of the heat was so severe on my body that I experienced muscle cramps, trembling, and a rapid heart rate. The substitute in my room (to replace a teacher who was fired after telling admin that they had become militant and legalistic) said that I was extremely red. He was greatly concerned and thought I needed ice from the nurse but I was so afraid of not getting the required work done that I sat down in front of a fan for a few minutes. On the drive home that day I was unfocused and shaking. I went to the doctor the next day and was prescribed two days off. By this point I knew that nothing would be done about the heat because I had spoken to the the principal about it several times to no avail and with flippant response.
My second floor classroom was above the boiler room and next to the computer servers, whose venting was directly into the attic above my room. My classroom had two windows which looked out upon a sort of courtyard area consisting of a asphalt roof just below the windows and two brick walls. There was a small alleyway after the roof and then the high school building walled it all in. It was an area where no breeze could enter but the hot sun would bake the roof and the brick walls and drive the heat into the classroom. It reminded me of a pizza oven. The classroom was HOT. Teachers were required to bring their own fans. Three fans did absolutely nothing.(I'm a widow on a limited income; I cannot afford to buy large industrial fans myself). A person entering the room from the hallway was hit in the face with a blast of heat. After a weekend of temperatures in the low 50s with the windows open and fans on, the temperature in the classroom on an early Monday morning was still 79F and would rise into the mid-80s as the day wore on. September was very hot and the temperature in the classroom was often up to the low-90s - and this does NOT include the heat index factoring in the humidity. Students were sweating, requiring frequent trips to the fountain, getting diarrhea from the heat, and becoming fatigued. This made learning extremely difficult and of course, wildly uncomfortable. Repeated pleas to the principal led to flippant statements like, "Fall will be here eventually!" and moments where it seemed like something might be done but, sadly, nothing happened except one thing. Speaking to the Dean of Students during one of his frequent trips into the room, he criticized me and said, "Don't complain. Tell me solutions." I *did* offer solutions: Buy industrial fans. Put ceiling mounted fans in. Put fans in the corners of the ceilings, creating circulation. None of this was done. In the seventh week a portable air conditioner showed up in the room (the day after I was so sick it scared me and the doctor prescribed two days off). The unit was the kind that has an exhaust tube to stick out a window and the size to cool a 12X10 room, certainly not a large classroom. No matter - it was left sitting in the back of the room and never hooked up. It would require the removal of a window or sticking it out the window and rigging up some sort of framework around it. Instead it just sat there, a token of the transient thought of relief. Classroom temperatures that week climbed to 86 with a heat index in the 90s.
In a meeting that began the school year, the principal first shocked teachers by adding 15 minutes to the workday without informing them (no compensation). She then emphatically addressed the staff with a pointed, shaking finger, "School begins at 7:15 sharp and not a moment later." Obviously, that creates a tone that says, "I think you are a bunch of slackers and I'm putting you on notice that no slacking will be tolerated." (She later retracted the extra 15 minute demand due to the outrage). Meanwhile, the week of "professional boot camp" that this kicked off was a relentless chain of meetings and classes. New teachers to the school were given zero time in their classrooms. At this time they did not have class lists, copier codes, and many did not have curriculum. Class lists were provided toward the end of the week but still the new teachers were not given classroom time.
The principal, to me on two occasions, cavalierly stated that teaching was "not a 9 to 5 job" and mentioned new teachers who were in their classroom over the weekend doing what needed to be done. As if this is good - as if this is just "to be expected." That cavalier attitude was repeatedly encountered. The message was clear: You are expected to use as much of your private time as necessary to do the work we do not give you time to do while on the clock in the building. Now all teachers know that one *must* bring work home, one must do a great deal of planning home. However, most schools provide TIME within the walls to do some of this. Schools provide early dismissal days for students before interims and grading periods that are "teacher work days" so that teachers can accomplish this. They provide planning periods that strive to as adequately as possible provide time. One school in this area has made every Wednesday an early dismissal day so that teachers can have meetings and work in their rooms.
So it is established that in order to complete necessary duties, some teachers were coming in on unpaid weekend time. It became abundantly clear that work/life balance was not a consideration. On the annual schedule, teachers were told that there were two after school staff meetings a month. These meetings extended one hour and fifteen minutes past the close of school. One was informed this in the beginning of the year and therefore, could prepare accordingly. My experience was that these were well-planned meetings and the agenda was firmly followed. However, a group for newer teachers to the school was led by an adviser. This was initially expressed as a meeting that would occur during the professional development days (scheduled on days that students had off from school). This adviser was given carte blanche to demand that newer teachers stay after school an additional two days per month AND that they drive to an off-site coffee shop for these meetings. The adviser stated in a meeting that "if something is important, it is worth sacrificing two hours for" - this was actually 2 1/2 hours plus having to drive off-site and all that entails.
Now to a twist in the workday. Teachers were shocked to find that student AND teacher lunches were trimmed down to 20 minutes a day. Teachers were to walk their students to lunch, obviously reducing their own lunch time. During lunch they needed to answer emails, supervise lunch detentions, and often have surprise meetings with admin or student development staff who chose to pop into the room. Actually getting to eat a meal and have a moment of sanity was not going to happen. Heaven forbid you needed to wait in line for the sole microwave or use the restroom. (Here absolutely no regard to studies that have shown that cutting down lunch time leads to more student lunches being wasted and less nutritious food intake. I could paste in here scientific studies in stacks, but that is for another article).
Also shocking was my discovery that students as young as fourth grade - ten year olds - no longer had recess. Who takes recess away from fourth graders? These are children! That said a lot to me. An administration that doesn't understand the psychological needs of children is certainly not going to care for the needs of the teacher. “Some devalue recess because they assume it to be — as they assume play in young children to be — a waste of time, time that could be otherwise more efficiently spent,” Anthony Pellegrini, former professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, wrote in a 2008 paper. “There is no theory or empirical evidence to support this point of view. The counter-argument, that recess is good, is backed by a large body of theory and empirical research.” This "Christian" administration was far, far behind the latest studies showing that the drive to achieve higher test scores was not going to be achieved by reducing recess. I had to ask myself: What kind of "Christian" people lack compassion and understanding of children to the degree that they will not allow them time to eat or time to release their stress with play?
The copier room became a place where teachers could briefly meet and cry to each other, some with actual tears. The school day started at 7:15 (sharp, remember?) but on Mondays one had to be in the cafeteria "SHARP" at that time for a "stand up" meeting. That meant that on Mondays if you needed to do anything to set up your room, you needed to be there much, much earlier. At 7:30 classroom teachers were required to be at their doors, greeting students and watching the lockers. For me, I was on my feet from 7am or earlier until after taking the students down to lunch, arriving back in my room around 11:52, unless I stopped at the restroom. I was back on my feet to watch the halls by 12:11 and on my feet until after I led students to specials at 1:55. My planning period, nearly always taken by meetings, lasted until students returned at 2:35, when I needed to be on my feet again, watching the halls. Wednesdays involved walking car-riders down and standing in the cafeteria until 3:10.
Everyone pretty much had this relentless schedule of standing on their feet for all but a brief period of time. When we met in that copier room (where the bathroom was located), the stress was freely shared. The staff which started out in August as happy, excited co-workers became a host of beaten down men and women dragging themselves through the day. The first teacher worship during boot camp week had been amazing and inspiring. The last one, after these 8 weeks of being squeezed like an old mop, was dull and lifeless. The joy had been wrung out.
There were other issues that played into teacher dis-encouragement including micromanagement at a level that I had never before witnessed. That can be nerve-wracking but we were given a heads up in the beginning of the year that admin would be "in and out of classrooms." I didn't know that it meant a continual parade of interruption, but at least it was expected and I chose to overlook it and keep teaching. At that copier, however, teachers wondered and worried thinking it was *just* each of them experiencing the parade - as if they were personally under a microscope. I think it helped everyone to know "no, you are not alone, they are doing it to all of us."
I've yet to mention anything that shows Christian love and care for the employees, for a sign of something that shows the edification of co-workers in Christ. I wish I could but I cannot say anything jumps out other than a breakfast served by admin during the last day of boot camp week. There was no teacher lounge. Teacher birthdays were not recognized during announcements (happily, students were). There was a quickness to criticize and rare moments of praise. It seemed like more and more was piled on to each day. More procedures, more meetings, more directions to insure that not only were "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed but that the slant of each letter was perfectly in sync and that the dotting and crossing were at standardized heights." (I found this amazing when a situation with severe mold on classroom furniture occurred and the administration was decidedly NOT inclined to follow prescribed decontamination procedures. If one is going to be rigid, rigidity on safety and health should be exercised. In the situation occurring on October 15, the mold was handled in a completely unacceptable manner).
A good secular employer knows that his human capital is his greatest asset. Key to good human resource management is appreciation. Employees need to feel appreciated and respected. A weary and unappreciated employee can quickly become a disengaged employee. The human body is a wonderful piece of equipment and must be maintained and tended with care. Therefore, adequate breaks and a healthy work/life balance should be fundamental. Should a Christian organization show less care and concern than secular bodies?
Therefore, one must ask -- what does the Bible say about Christian employers? While there are no specific addresses to employers, there are many Bible verses that apply.
The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. Proverbs 12:10
1 Corinthians 9:9
For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
Colossians 4:1
Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
1 Timothy 5:18 "For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain, and again, The laborer is worthy of his hire."
Acts 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Luke 6:31
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Deuteronomy 24:14
“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.
Proverbs 11:1
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.
I can now clearly see why the world looks at people and organizations that declare themselves to be Christian and scoff. I have had the privilege of working for two Christian organizations in the past that indeed were godly, loving and wonderful places with admin that loved both students and staff. I will hold those places dearly in my heart. However, this situation has led me to shed my naivety and in the future, I will be wary --- very, very wary.
(I hesitate to share this publicly because when one blows a whistle one opens up to all sorts of criticism. At least I have documentation of the heat AND the fact of its physical/mental effects on performance. It is sad to say that I have to retain other evidence to protect myself).
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