Call it a silver lining in the storm clouds of job loss and corporate meltdown hanging over the workplace. Or maybe it's more of a little halo: Workers are feeling freer nowadays to seek jobs that let them take their "whole selves" to work, allowing them to incorporate their spiritual values in the activities that earn them their daily bread.

Take Brian, for instance. He's an employee of Tyco, which he describes as "a company you've probably read a lot about, and would have read a lot more about if it hadn't been for Enron."

Tyco is an international conglomerate whose surprise corporate restructuring shocked Wall Street earlier this year. On a single day in January, 20 percent of its stock value evaporated. The company has been dogged with a reputation for creative accounting and somnolent corporate governance.

Brian, who asked that his full name not be used in this story, is still employed. But with his finger in the wind, he senses he may be looking for a new job soon. He's been seeking opportunities to connect with others who have traveled "a different path."

Living one's spiritual values in the workplace is not just a matter of "not fudging numbers on a report," he says. "It's also things like whether you're working till 7 p.m. every night at the expense of your family. There's no point in knocking yourself out for a company that may or may not be around after a while."

The good news for Brian is that some companies are trying to become the kind of place where people like him want to work. Many of those that succeed are reporting good results, both in dollars and cents and in terms of human capital. But companies find it hard to introduce spiritual values at a corporate level. And anyone waiting for the advocates of workplace spirituality to play a leading role in reform efforts is likely to have to keep waiting.

"A lot of companies are convinced of the value of spirituality," says Ian Mitroff, a management professor at the University of Southern California. "What they lack is a way to bring the practice of spirituality – spirituality, not religion – into the workplace in a way that won't cause disruption or acrimony."

For his 1999 book, "The Spiritual Audit of Corporate America," Mr. Mitroff conducted extensive surveys and interviews of representatives of several dozen companies, primarily on the West Coast.

Among those surveyed: Charles, the chief executive of a midsize East Coast furniture company. He reported having had, a few years before, what he called "an epiphany": a moment of realization that the toxic chemicals his company used in its manufacturing were dangerous to the environment and had turned him into "an unwitting agent of evil," he said. "I feel as if I am carrying a spear in the middle of my chest.... I struggle every day to pull that spear from my chest."

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