God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them (Hebrews 6:10 NIV).
In its efforts to understand the experiences and opinions of employees at Church institutions, the Institutional Workers’ Survey 2023 asked workers how much they agreed with a number of statements about their workplace environments. In a previous post, we discussed the answers of employees of educational institutions; in this one, we will look at the responses of workers in non-educational institutions: that is, healthcare institutions, publishing houses, media centers and miscellaneous institutions.
Among non-educational workers, 94.4% agreed or strongly agreed that they liked that their workplace represented God, while only 5.2% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 0.8% did not know.
Answers were spread more evenly when workers were asked if they agreed that the leadership did not value them: 37.7% agreed or strongly agreed, 52.9% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 9.4% did not know.
A strong majority of workers (82.1%) agreed or strongly agreed that they could share their faith in the workplace, while 14.8% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 3.1% did not know.
When asked whether their institution was being pressured to evangelize, 27.3% agreed or strongly agreed, 58.4% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 14.4% did not know.
Most employees could wholeheartedly support the goals of their institution: 91.3% agreed or strongly agreed, only 6.2% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 2.5% did not know.
Most employees could wholeheartedly support the goals of their institution: 91.3% agreed or strongly agreed, only 6.2% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 2.5% did not know.
A large majority (86.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that they were able to work with like-minded people, 11% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 2.1% did not know.
When asked if being able to help the needy through their work was important, 84.6% agreed or strongly agreed that it was, 11.8% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 3.6% did not know.
Employees were asked whether their institution gave too much attention to avoid upsetting Christians with extreme views. Opinions were more varied: 46% agreed or strongly agreed, 37.4% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 16.5% did not know.
Many respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they worked in a pleasant atmosphere (76.9%), but 15.7% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 7.4% did not know.
When asked whether their organization should ensure that what it already does be done well before offering new programs or services, 78.5% agreed or strongly agreed, 14.6% disagreed or strongly disagreed, while 6.8% did not know; these were exactly the same figures as found in the survey of the educational employees.
A large majority (89.1%) agreed or strongly agreed that they liked the fact that their workplace was faith-based; only 9.4% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 1.4% did not know.
Level of Agreement with Selected Statements About the Workplace
Overall, the answers from the educational and non-educational employees were within a few percentage points of each other. The only subjects that showed any real difference were mostly specifically faith-related ones: educational employees were six points higher on sharing their faith, nine points higher on evangelizing, and four points higher on the faith-based workplace, while agreement that leadership did not value them was around four points higher in education, as well.
The differences probably reflect that Adventist educational institutions still try to hire mainly Adventist employees, while the others have higher proportions of non-Adventist workers.
Mrs. White stated, “If those who hold positions of trust are persons who love and fear God, they will realize that a sacred responsibility is theirs, because of the measure of authority and the consequent influence which their position gives them” (Special Testimony to the Managers and Workers in Our Institutions, p. 5). Our institutions cannot be beacons of light to the world if those working in them do not reflect that light themselves. The figures above show that many of them do, but also that more work needs to be done to ensure that our institutions’ mission reflects that of our Church itself.
You can access the full report here.
Created in collaboration with the Institute of Church Ministry.
Published by ASTR on 06/16/2026.
