Does Religion Have a Home in the Workplace?

Red State/Blue State Geography Plays a Significant Role

Executive Job Search Service, TheLadders.com, Surveys Top Brass Nationwide

New York, NY As the phrase ìmoral valuesî continues to spark debate, how do job seekers feel about religion in the workplace? Executive job search service TheLadders.com sought to find out by surveying executive-level job seekers across the country.

According to the companyís survey of 3,637 executives in the $100k job market, a 68% majority said that religion does not have a home in the workplace. When overlaid on the 2004 U.S. electoral map, however, the results shift significantly. While a full 44% of red state respondents said that religion does belong in the workplace, only 24% of their blue state counterparts agreed, a difference of 20% (see table below).

Does religion have a home in the workplace?

Total Population: Yes: 32% No: 68%
Blue State Yes: 24% No: 76%
Red State Yes: 44% No: 56

The survey of registered $100k executives was conducted on TheLadders.com Web site from November 8, 2004 through December 1, 2004. The margin of error is 1.61%.

ìThe workplace is not a democracy, so separation between church and corporation can become an exceedingly murky issue,î explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. ìThe rule of thumb for job seekers and HR managers is not to get caught up in the particular religious sensibilities of one firm over another, but rather to look for and foster an environment that is open to many different ideas. Thatís the ideology that makes great career achievements possible.î

Now reaching over 190,000 readers and featuring over 3,000 new $100k job listings each week, TheLadders.com is the largest online job search service catering exclusively to the $100k market. Marc Cenedella founded TheLadders.com in July 2003 after a tenure as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, at HotJobs.com, ultimately shepherding that companyís sale to Yahoo, Inc. (NASD: YHOO) in 2002. In May 2004 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by award-winning marketing newsletter, MarketingSherpa, which cited TheLadders.comís unique business model as a key to its sustained growth.