Are you stealing one of the company's most valuable resources?
Back in the high-flying eighties, when we paid too much for everything we bought, young executives were known to send documents to other offices in the building by Federal Express. Hmmm…a few floors down via Memphis; must have been the mid-level-managerial equivalent of ordering up the corporate jet. Not that wastefulness has waned all that much, mind you—not with $10,000 umbrella stands at Tyco, outlandish senior executive perks, and other egregious instances of corporate profligacy. But wastefulness isn’t the private preserve of senior management. Nor is it reserved for big-ticket items. What about us—the average Jane and Joe toiling away in a cubicle or a windowless office?
Are there comparatively small or subtle ways in which we squander the company’s resources—practices that, on their own, don’t amount to much but, when tallied over the long run, add up to significant bucks? Habits such as needless, excessive photocopying; leaving the lights on or the air conditioning cranked up when we’re gone; making personal long-distance phone calls on the company dime; padding our expenses here and there; running errands in the company car; pilfering the occasional pen, roll of tape, or box of staples or paper clips; etc.?
Even more subtle is our expropriation of one of the company’s most costly and valuable assets: our labor. When we surf the Internet, send text messages to friends, take extended lunches, arrive late or depart early, or do anything else that detracts, or distracts us, from our work, are we not depriving the company of a commodity it has bought and paid for?
What does all this have to do with spirituality on the job? Throughout the ages, Eastern and Western spiritual traditions have taught what some term the “law of economy”—the wise and purposeful stewardship of resources. “Waste not want not” and “A penny saved is a penny earned” are a couple of time-honored aphorisms that encapsulate this principle.
Whether one believes the Creator doesn’t waste anything, so why should we; or believes that self-control is a path to the soul; or believes that stewardship is a form of reverence, of honoring our gifts; the spiritual imperative is unmistakable.
On a surface level, economical living enables us to grow our time and money for some purpose or opportunity—perhaps one that hasn’t presented itself yet. On a deeper level, the conscious practice of economy can help cultivate mindfulness, detachment, respect, control of our desires, centeredness on others, and any of a host of other virtues. And by observing it in the workplace, do we not express the exalted spiritual principle of service?
If we truly seek to spiritualize our working environments in covert as well as overt ways, we can reflect on the profound implications of the quiet, simple observance of the law of economy.
David Fyten, a professional writer and editor, is a board member of the Center for Purposeful Living , a non-profit service-learning organization in Winston-Salem, N.C. CPL offers a one-year, residential, full-scholarship program for people who are seeking something more from life, and interested persons are invited to participate in a one-week “Come and Discover” program to learn what it’s all about. For further information, go to its website at www.purposeful.org or contact Joanna White at
or (336) 761-8745.
