Recently my boss started asking us to come in 15 minutes early on Mondays for a “motivational” session with our department. He indicated it was optional but wanted us to try to come. I went to the first one and it was fine, he had some silly quote he shared and we discussed our plans to have a great week. Standard fare. It ended, however, in him asking us to bow our heads to pray. Some of my department members asked if they could ask for specific requests in the prayer. They all prayed while I stood there, eyes open and frozen in place. I couldn’t believe that it was happening.
Out of a department of about 10 people, 8 are self-identified Christians. One person is agnostic. I am an atheist. However I don’t go around advertising it as I am clearly “other.”
My company is under 50 employees and has no official HR department, there’s no one I could really go to about this.
All of this would be water under the bridge if the meetings remained optional. However after a few weeks of the meetings (all ending in prayer, I either overheard from my office or heard from my coworkers), he has decided to make them mandatory. I am now considering talking to my boss about this, but fear for my job safety. I don’t think I would be fired over it, but at my job there are a lot of ways to make my life harder if I’m on my boss’s “shit list.”
I know the clear solution is to Gtfo. And I plan to. But what would you do in the meantime if you were me?