I travel quite a bit in the course of the year, and in my travels I read a lot of America’s newspapers. As a longtime newspaper editor who knows a lot about this subject, take it from me when I say that for the most part, America’s newspapers pretty much stink.

This is especially true at many of the larger metropolitan dailies that have been taken over by philistines like Sam Zell and Randy Michaels, guys who know nothing about the newspaper biz  and seem to think that slashing the basic resource that makes a newspaper valuable—its reporting and news staff—is a smart business strategy.

One newspaper that seems to defy this trend, however, is the Miami Herald. Despite all the cutbacks at its parent company, McClatchy, the Herald is always a great read and does a wonderful job capturing the strange and surreal sense of place that permeates south Florida.

And the Miami Herald does it with stories that you just won’t find anywhere else, stories like this: how some companies in south Florida are offering spiritual and faith-based services to their employees as part of their benefits packages.

Here’s the essence of the story, according to the Herald: “It’s not unusual for faith-based organizations to extend pastoral care to their employees. But as all employers seek to find an edge in recruiting and retaining workers, more and more secular companies are offering free spiritual counseling in their ‘work-life’ package of employee benefits.”

The story specifically points to Tamarac, Florida-based City Furniture, “which has 15 stores from Stuart to Cutler Ridge and about 1,050 employees” and “put together a team of four spiritual counselors earlier this year—a Protestant minister, a Bible teacher, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi. Yes, City Furniture promotes the fact that it sounds like the opening to an old religious joke.”

Curt Nichols, vice president of HR at City Furniture, told the newspaper that the company first tested the waters before moving forward with the idea, which originated with the wife of company founder and CEO Kevin Koenig. “There were those completely excited by it and those who said they would never use it but weren’t offended by it,” Nichols said. “Not one person said it was a bad idea.”

City Furniture recruited the spiritual squad based on recommendations from employees who were members of local congregations. Nichols said he’ll add Muslim, Hindu or other religious representatives if the need arises. The team, which refused payment but agreed on a monthly donation to their congregation or organization, is invited to employee events and visits City Furniture’s main campus twice a month to mingle with employees who are interested. They are available by phone and e-mail and will make appointments to meet privately with any employee.

Sound like an odd benefit to you? It did to me at first, but then I got to thinking: How odd is this compared to some of the goofy employee perks they offer at companies in the Silicon Valley?

There’s also this comment from Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, senior rabbinic fellow of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the City Furniture team’s Jewish representative, that puts this kind of benefit in perspective: “We pay great attention to our physical selves, joining gyms and hiring personal trainers,” Berkowitz told the Herald in an e-mail. “The same attention must be given to our spiritual and emotional selves as well. City Furniture is a pioneer in the corporate world, and I hope this model catches on in other venues.”

Yes, this probably isn’t a benefit your company is offering, but after reading this Herald story, I came away wondering: Isn’t spiritual counseling for employees, especially in times of personal crisis, a whole lot more valuable than pet insurance or discount tickets to the local theme park? What do you think? I’d love to know, either with a comment here at the bottom of this blog or in an e-mail to me a jhollon@workforce.com.