Workplace

Mike O’Brien emailed a few hundred colleagues last month to announce his retirement after 32 years at Ford Motor. The sales executive’s note included the obligatory career reflections and thank yous—but came with a twist. Attached to the email was a spreadsheet detailing a few thousand a meticulous log of mixed metaphors and malaprops uttered by co-workers over a decade.

During a 2019 sales meeting to discuss a new vehicle launch, a colleague blurted out: “Let’s not reinvent the ocean.” At another meeting, in 2016, someone started a sentence with: “I don’t want to sound like a broken drum here, but…”

For more than a decade, O’Brien kept a meticulous log of verbal flubs uttered in Ford meetings, from companywide gatherings to side conversations. It documents 2,229 linguistic breaches, including the exact quote, context, name of the perpetrator and color commentary.

There is a leaderboard and a clear GOAT of verbal flubs. The list became so known—and feared—that one executive cursed O’Brien’s name in a meeting after tripping up on an expression. Violators could appeal their inclusion but success was rare. And nobody was above a grammatical roasting: Ford CEO Jim Farley twice made the list.

“We weren’t being mean,” O’Brien said. “It was just funny.”

Possible Preaching Angles: This is an example of good-natured ribbing, but sadly, some of us keep a meticulous list of flubs and offenses and sins that are much more damaging.

Longstanding workplace issues such as mistreatment, the normalization of toxic behavior, and a lack of accountability for workplace culture have fueled a growing trend known as revenge quitting.

This phenomenon, on the rise since the 2000s, sees employees leaving their jobs not just for better opportunities, but as a form of protest and self-preservation against unfair treatment.

When employees resign as a final act of protest against toxic workplace conditions, the impact on organizations can be significant. One of the most obvious consequences is financial loss. The abrupt departure of employees also sends a powerful message to remaining staff, potentially leading to decreased morale, trust, and engagement.

High-profile cases of revenge quitting can also damage an organization’s reputation, affecting customer relationships and investor confidence.

Finally, revenge quitting can have lasting consequences on workplace culture. If the toxic behavior that caused the resignation remains unaddressed, remaining employees may become disengaged, leading to a decline in work quality.

Research has found that when employees feel a genuine sense of belonging, they are more engaged and loyal, they produce more innovative solutions, and they are more reliable and productive.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Employees – Respect; Testimony - It is certainly permissible for a Christian to quit an incompatible job and look for other work. But let us be sure to leave an employer with a good testimony after giving proper notification of quitting (Rom. 12:18; Eph. 6:5-8; 1 Tim. 6:1-2); 2) Church ministry - Does any of this sound familiar in a church setting when people quit attending? Here are several biblical principles that might apply as antidotes: Respect and Integrity in Leadership - (Matt. 23:11; 1 Tim. 3:1-13); Accountability (Matt. 18:15-17; Acts 15:1-29); Promoting a Culture of Belonging, Harmony, and Unity (Psa. 133:1; Rom. 12:16; Eph. 4:3).

There’s nothing spooky about ghostworking. The newly coined term describes a set of behaviors meant to create a facade of productivity at the office, like walking around carrying a notebook as a prop or typing random words just to generate the sound of a clacking keyboard.

Pretending to be busy at the office is not something workers recently invented, of course, but it appears to be reaching critical mass. According to a new survey, more than half of all U.S. employees now admit to regularly ghostworking.

According to the report, the results show that 58% of employees admit to regularly pretending to work, while another 34% claim they do so from time to time. What might be most striking are some of the elaborate methods workers use to perform productivity. Apparently, 15% of U.S. employees have faked a phone call for a supervisor’s benefit, while 12% have scheduled fake meetings to pad out their calendars, and 22% have used their computer keyboards as pianos to make the music of office ambiance.

As for what these employees are actually doing, in many cases it’s hunting for other jobs. The survey shows that 92% of employees have job searched in some way while on the clock, with 55% admitting they do so regularly.

The ongoing return-to-office resurgence has left many employees feeling like they’re working inside of a fishbowl, performing for the watchful eye of employers. Employees sensing a greater need to broadcast that they’re getting work done. So ghostworking is a performance. It involves actively projecting an appearance of busyness without actually engaging in meaningful work.

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Diligence; Employees; Sincerity - Scripture encourages believers to work wholeheartedly, not just for human approval, but as if working for God; 2) Hypocrisy - The act of ghostworking is a kind of hypocrisy—projecting an image that does not match reality.

Bonnie Hammer started her career in 1974 as a bottom-rung production assistant to the top of NBC Universal’s headquarters. As of 2024 she had become a Vice President. She advises younger workers to resist the lies about work, like “follow your dreams.” Instead, she shares a story about humility and hard work:

I learned my ‘workplace worth’ fresh out of graduate school when I was hired as a production assistant on a kids’ TV show in Boston. Each PA was assigned a cast member, and as the most junior employee, my cast member was Winston, an English sheepdog. My primary responsibility was to follow him around the set carrying a pooper scooper. I had two university degrees. Winston, on the other hand, was a true nepo-baby, the precious, unhouse-trained pet of one of the show’s producers. Plus, as an on-camera star, Winston out-earned me.

But while many days I felt like working for Winston was beneath me, I never showed it. I acted like I was pursuing an honors degree in pet sitting, and each poop pickup was an extra-credit opportunity. The work and the attitude paid off. When an associate producer position opened, I was promoted. I pursued a similar strategy for much of my early career: If I wanted to be a valuable asset to my colleagues and bosses, I knew I needed to add concrete value to their days by showing up, staying late and doing whatever needed to be done.

For young employees who want to feel ‘engaged’ at work, the truth is, you need to engage with your work first.

Gallup once polled people in 142 countries to respond to a series of statements designed to measure employee engagement—involving matters like their job satisfaction, whether they felt their work was important, and whether they had opportunities in the workplace to learn and grow.

What the polling firm found was that engagement is the exception, not the rule: Worldwide, 13% of employees were engaged at work, while 63% were not engaged and 24% were “actively disengaged,” meaning they were unhappy and unproductive. Engagement rates were highest in the United States and Canada, and lowest in East Asia.

Gallup noted, “About one in eight workers … are psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations. The bulk of employees worldwide ... lack motivation and are less likely to invest discretionary effort in organizational goals or outcomes.”

Beauty has its privileges. Studies reliably show that the most physically attractive among us tend to get more attention from parents, better grades in school, more money at work, and more satisfaction from life. A study published in the Journal of Economics and Business found that good-looking banking CEOs take in over $1 million more in total compensation, on average, than their lesser-looking peers. “Good looks pay off,” the authors write.

New research from Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance similarly finds that comely managers of mutual funds lure more investments and enjoy more promotions than their counterparts, even though their funds don’t perform as well. The researchers suggest this performance gap may be because handsome managers approach risk with arrogant levels of confidence.

Scientists attribute the human tendency to give attractive people better treatment to something called the halo effect. Basically, we tend to assume that good looks are a sign of intelligence, trustworthiness, and good character and that ugliness is similarly more than skin deep. This may help explain why attractive people are less likely to be arrested or convicted, even after controlling for criminal involvement, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The gospel works by grace not by beauty—God saves us in Christ not because we are beautiful and worthy. He saves us despite our lack of spiritual and moral beauty. But he saves us to make us truly beautiful in him.

Kevin Ford, a dedicated Burger King cook and cashier, received a small goody bag from management as recognition for never taking a sick day during his 20-year tenure at the restaurant.

While Ford appreciated the gesture, social media users were outraged on his behalf, believing he deserved more than a bag of treats for his unwavering commitment to work. This prompted his daughter to start a GoFundMe campaign with a modest goal of $200 to help her father visit his grandchildren in Texas.

The campaign unexpectedly gained massive support, amassing over $400,000 in donations. People resonated with Ford's story, relating it to their own family members or friends who had made sacrifices for their jobs. He said, “I think they just wanted to show my employer and other CEOs that people deserve to be congratulated, rewarded, even just acknowledged for their hard work and dedication.”

Ford, a single father with four daughters, rarely took sick days because he couldn't afford to do so, as his job didn't offer paid sick leave. Even when facing health issues, he used his vacation days to avoid missing work. While his attendance record was uncommon, Ford has much in common with workers across the restaurant and accommodation sector, who often have to choose between unpaid time off and working while sick. He said, “I'd be lying down in front of the fryers because I was in so much pain and people would tell me to go home, but I was thinking about the power bill or the water bill.”

Despite the overwhelming support, Ford advises against following his example, emphasizing that his health and family suffered due to his extreme dedication to work. With the funds raised, however, Ford now has a second chance to enjoy retirement, contribute to his grandchildren's college education, and spend quality time with his children.

That said, he plans to continue working at Burger King in his immediate future. He said, “That's also my family there. We're fun and funny. When it's not like that, then I guess I'll retire."

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even when employers don't recognize the value of your service, God always rewards those who diligently serve in his name and with his principles.

Do you find yourself distracted? Well, you are not alone. A recent survey on distractions in the workplace found that employees experience an average of 77 distractions a week, or one distraction every 31 minutes.

These distractions included:

• Responding to personal communications (such as online chats, texts, and calls)
• Checking email
• Meetings
• Browsing the internet
• Having unplanned conversations with co-workers
• Monitoring children and managing the household

The problem with these kinds of distractions is that they make a dent in overall productivity. A study by the University of California Irvine discovered that it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back into the task once interrupted. Distractions can leave employees feeling disconnected and overwhelmed as they have to make up for lost time.

At the intersection of social media platforms and fast-food trends lives a new entry into the category of viral posts: the secret menu item. Influencers are making videos about food combinations, and the surge of interest is wreaking havoc, causing annoyance for workers across America.

After a TikTok user created a video of her customized Waffle House order—a Texas bacon melt with waffles instead of bread—Waffle Houses across the south were inundated with orders for the improvised delicacy. Managers at one store in Georgia created a sign stating, “Order from the menu. We are not making anything you saw on TikTok!!”

Another TikTok user experienced success after her fast-food hack video got almost two million views. At a friend’s prompting, she ordered a Chipotle quesadilla with steak and veggies inside, and dipped it in a combination of sour cream and vinaigrette. The friend, a Chipotle manager, said it tasted like a Philly cheesesteak.

According to industry analyst Adam Chandler, such makeshift delicacies can bring extra revenue to fast-food chains, but they can gum up the workers at the store if they haven’t prepared for the scrutiny and attention. Chandler said, “It really places a lot of stress on fast-food workers.”

Chandler noted that while social media trends offer the potential for increased revenue, they can cause problems. “Service has slowed down, in part because people have started modifying their orders. So, we’re looking at a context where fast food is becoming less fast.”

The trend sometimes has results that are more positive. One TikTok user initiated a viral video after posting about a favorite snack idea at Momofuku. VP Ryan Healy at Momofuku said, “It’s not the way we set out to do this, but she’s bringing more people into our world. We see [TikTok trends] as a positive thing and hopefully broaden people’s minds — to help change the way people eat and eat more adventurously.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Selfishly demanding that things be done our way is never God’s plan for believers. We should instead be considerate of others who are working hard to do their jobs to serve many people.

Ten years ago, Nathaniel Miller was at a vocational fork in the road. He had spent years praying and dreaming about pastoring a church, but Miller was short on cash. A pastor at his church suggested he connect with one of the congregants who owned a plumbing company. A decade later, he’s still plumbing.

In an article in Christianity Today, Miller writes:

It turns out that work, manual labor in particular, had been sitting right under my nose as perhaps the most direct route to learning the skills needed by those who desire to lead the church. I suspect I’m not alone. Any of us can become better at following Jesus by focusing on the demands and spiritual realities of our work. Rightly understood, work is the training ground where good Christians are made.

When I’m installing a water heater … every facet of my being is involved in the execution and completion of the work …. Over the past decade as a blue-collar worker, I have accidentally found a way of life that, far from keeping prayer at bay and hindering me from being with God because of my duties, has put me in the middle of a centuries-long, devout experiment. It teaches me at least these two things: In Christ, I am praying precisely because I am working, and I am becoming better at being a pray-er because I am a worker.

My hands participate in the work of bringing order to the world around me, and they thumb through theological works; they bring peace between homeowners and their homes, and they build the kingdom; they’ve learned to turn wrenches, and they’re learning to pray without ceasing.

I’ve discovered that practicing being in God’s presence and growing in the Christian life is something any of us can do in virtually any line of work, not just as pastors or church leaders. My plumbing vocation certainly isn’t the life I expected, but it’s turning out to be the life for which I prayed.

After high school, Brandon Yates became an electrician. Finally, when he became a master electrician Yates founded KC One, an electrical contracting services company based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Yates said, “Craftsman is a lost word in our day.” He aims to change that by recruiting hardworking high-school graduates with an aptitude for making things. KC One’s apprenticeship program provides on-the-job training and certifications for one or two young electricians each year. “Society teaches these kids that they’ll become losers if they become electricians. My job is to unteach them.”

The perception that the trades offer less status and money, and demand less intelligence, is one likely reason young people have turned away from careers in the trades for several generations. In Yates’s school district, officials recently shuttered the entire shop class program. Scholar Mike Rose says, “In our culture, the craftsman is a muscled arm, sleeve rolled tight against biceps, but no thought bright behind the eye.” Thinking, it’s assumed, is for the office, not the shop.

However, Scripture identifies Jesus himself as a tekton (Mark 6:3, literally “craftsman” or “one who works with his hands”). So, we think it’s high time to challenge the tradesman stereotype, and to rethink the modern divide between white collar and blue collar, office and shop, in light of the Divine Craftsman who will one day make all things new.

Most college graduates have had little, if any, training in repairing a leaky toilet or hardwiring a smoke detector. For an awful lot of college graduates, without help, their pipes would be forever clogged. Without reintegrating the trades back into the liberal arts, we will perpetuate the falsehood that plumbers, electricians, and other skilled laborers are somehow less intelligent.

Possible Preaching Angle:

If there is a renaissance in craftsmanship, it should be welcomed by Christians. After all, we look to a day when we will inhabit a house Jesus has built—a richly prepared mansion that owes its beauty to a single designer and laborer (John 14:2). God is Maker, Creator of the heavens and the earth; and God is Fixer, Redeemer and Restorer of a broken world. As we look forward to the heavenly city, whose Architect and Builder is God (Heb. 11:10), perhaps we owe it to our children and grandchildren to encourage more of them to be makers and fixers, too.

Nearly a year after he’d been laid off because of COVID, Rebecca Mix’s dad--a jubilant, always-smiling, 58-year-old Michigander--told her he wanted to go back to work. Specifically, he wanted to work at Costco. Rebecca continues:

“OK,” I said, thinking that is weirdly particular. “You’ll need a résumé.” He told me “I want to work on my feet. I want to work somewhere that appreciates me until I can retire. Can you help me apply?” There were other places that seemed ideal to him: delivering packages for UPS or FedEx. But he’d grown up only 15 minutes from our local Costco, and had heard their reputation for treating their employees well.

“OK,” I promised. “We’ll apply tonight.” And then I opened Twitter. I fired off a few funny tweets explaining my dad had been laid off due to COVID and really, really wanted to work for Costco. And then I forgot about it. Until I logged into Facebook, and had a message request from an unfamiliar name. A manager of a local Costco had contacted me. The company’s chief executive, Craig Jelinek, had somehow found my dad’s tweets, emailed several Michigan stores, and suggested they bring him in for an interview. I freaked out. I said “Dad, this is nuts. They’re going to hire you.” “Maybe,” he said. “I’m not sure. But I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”

The next day, he had an interview. “And do me a favor,” he said. “Don’t put that in a tweet.” He called me after, bubbling over with excitement. It’d gone well, he thought. I congratulated him, and in his trademark style, he said: “Well, I might not get the job. But at least I tried.”

But then a few days later, a text from my dad popped up from my phone. It was just a picture, and the words: “thank you.” A picture of his new Costco badge!

Possible Preaching Angle:

Father; Fathers; Respect; Work & Career – What a great example of repaying a parent for all that they have done for you (1 Tim. 5:8).

Software engineer Cher Scarlett is helping to shine a light on discrimination and sexual harassment at Apple, where she works. In an interview Scarlett said, “Apple does not care about its employees. It cares about money. Maybe that’s capitalism, and that’s just the way corporations are. But I can’t live my life further accepting it and not saying something about it.”

Scarlett is motivated to speak up because she knows what it feels like to be powerless; not long ago she herself was the one in need of advocacy. That’s because before she taught herself to code, Scarlett struggled with a pill addiction after surviving sexual abuse and dropping out of high school.

Scarlett teamed up with Apple Maps program manager Janneke Parrish to organize an initiative with the hashtag #AppleToo, encouraging employees to share their stories of workplace discrimination. Parrish says, “It is an incredible story. She’s a deeply inspiring figure.”

Scarlett has become accustomed to telling her story to her many followers on social media:

I’m not a corporate shill, but I’m also not throw-away-my-job idiotic. I have to feel good about what I’m putting into the world, whether that’s in my job or on social media, whatever. I have to feel good about it. And if I don’t, I have to remedy it immediately.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The gospel has the power to transform people from victimhood to victory. Not only that, but God allows us to go through trials, not just so that our faith is tested, but that once we have overcome, we can also help others going through similar trials

The AI Now Institute of New York University is sounding the alarm about the dangers of artificial intelligence in the workplace. But unlike the typical sci-fi scenario of accelerated sentience, the researchers are concerned not about how well it works, but about how well it doesn’t.

In a December report, researchers at the AI Now Institute called for a ban on so-called “affect recognition” technology, which purports to use machine learning to analyze facial expressions to detect certain emotions and/or character attributes. The problem? It doesn’t work.

From the report: “Regulators should ban the use of affect recognition in important decisions that impact people’s lives and access to opportunities.”

Despite the lack of evidence of success, affect recognition software has been adopted by companies in hiring searches, by law enforcement surveilling suspects, prisons watching inmates, and casinos keeping tabs on customers. The AI Now Institute’s report cites several studies indicating potential harm such tools can inflict on people, including one study using photos of NBA players that consistently gave negative scores to black players, despite how often they smiled or showed outward positivity.

The researchers were blunt in their overall assessment. “There remains little to no evidence that these new affect-recognition products have any scientific validity.”

Possible Preaching Angles:

The promises of technology cannot compare to the promises of an omniscient, omnipotent God. We must not become too enamored of every new tool or trick available, but rather, with maturity and discernment, weigh the merits of anyone's proposal by their track record and the fruit of life they have on display.

The average layman has the idea that his vocation is his penalty.