She also interviewed managers who have invested in the health and spiritual well-being of their employees in an effort to boost productivity. In addition to meditation and mindfulness practices, many of these Silicon Valley firms offer executive coaching and a raft of services such as gourmet cafeterias, gyms, swimming pools, woodworking studios and video game rooms. At one company, she even found an outdoor walking labyrinth, like the medieval spiritual mazes of ancient European cathedrals.
One downside to tech’s embrace of wholeness and wellness is that it has forced many religious practitioners, especially Buddhists hired by these companies, to downplay the religious origins and traditions of their faith to make it palatable to a nonreligious workplace. Chen calls this a “whitened Buddhism,” stripped of its Asian origins and ethical teachings and minus its rituals of bowing, chanting and burning incense. Instead, many of these practitioners must emphasize the scientific evidence for mindfulness, which, she points out, is often inflated or circumstantial.
The larger problem with worshipping work is that it sucks up employees’ interest and energy in any kind of civic engagement in neighborhoods, cities, local and national politics. “Techtopia,” she writes, “is corroding the collective capacity to build and sustain the common good.”
Religion News Service spoke to Chen about her book and whether worshipping work has changed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The following interview was edited for length and clarity.
How did you get into this project?
My frustration being a scholar of religion in the Bay Area is that there’s a significant number of people who don’t identify as religious. How do you study them? I was interested in the presence of religion in secular spaces. I started looking at yoga studios because these are secular spaces with religious icons. In interviewing yoga practitioners the theme of work kept coming up: ‘I practice yoga and it helps me become a better teacher, lawyer, nurse.’ It became clear there was something going on. The thing that was sacred in their life was work. They were using yoga to support their work or relieve the stress of work. That’s when I thought, maybe I’m looking in the wrong place and I began to look at workplaces.
What is it about high-tech work that makes it so important to people? Is it the prospect of wealth or economic security or being the next Steve Jobs?
In the tech industry or the startup, there’s a high chance of failure. Nine out of 10 startups fail. So you go for broke. You invest your entire self into it. Someone told me, ‘Why the hell would I do this, if I didn’t think I’d be 1 out of 10 to succeed?’ That kind of intense gamble you’re making requires a kind of faith. It’s a spiritual fervor toward work.
You finished your research in 2019. How have things changed now that people are working from home? Has the Great Resignation affected Big Tech?