On July 15, every US business with more than 25 employees received a notice from Heaven strongly suggesting they stop threatening staffers with “Come to Jesus“ meetings.
“Jesus is not at these meetings,” says Heaven spokesperson Julia Simpson. “It is therefore inappropriate to use His name as a means of frightening employees into getting on board or stepping up to the plate.”
Simpson acknowledges that Jesus knows what goes on at these meetings – and in fact knows before the meetings even happen – but says it is not His policy to attend meetings or affect their outcomes.
“He is not concerned about whether a task force has compiled its deliverables and is ready to bring them to market,” she says. “Quite frankly, He is looking at the bigger picture.”
The missive stops short of being an outright cease and desist order, meaning some businesses may choose to ignore it.
“Since we started Come to Jesus meetings in 2009 our bottom line has improved by seven percent per year,” says Roy Montell, Chief Reconciliation Officer at Omaha-based SingleSnap. In light of that, he says his staff is currently looking into how to react to the notice.
Others are playing it safer: “We stopped immediately,” says Monica Potrowski, HR Director of Boston’s Crumpole Unlimited. “You have to pick your battles and these aren’t people to pick one with.”
Heaven’s Simpson won’t speculate on what might happen to companies that don’t stop the meetings. “Let’s just say we’re keeping an eye on the situation,” she says, “which is something we’re pretty good at.”
