Companies large and small continue to use workplace chaplains

To John McCutcheon, co-owner of Polytech Plastic Molding in Prairie Grove, the idea of contracting for a chaplaincy program for his employees is “without question worth every penny.”

Statistics indicate as many of 60% of employees have trouble focusing on their job tasks because of personal problems; and up to 90% of absenteeism is linked to personal or family problems, according to a U.S. Department of Labor Study.

The return on investment for employee assistance programs such as chaplain services is hard to quantify in exact term. In 2012 Ford and General Motors studied their internal results and found a $9 return for every $1 invested in their employee assistance programs.

UNKNOWN BENEFITS, RISKS
A January 2013 “conference draft” study by Faith Ngunjiri of Concordia College and David Miller of Princeton University suggests no definitive evidence for a cost-benefit claim to corporate chaplaincy.

“In terms of bridging theory and practice, one of the issues that these leaders made clear is that what they know about the benefits of chaplaincy and the contribution to the bottom line is more a ‘gut feeling’ and anecdotal observations, as opposed (to) knowledge from systematic evaluation of their programs,” noted the report. “Thus, a further implication of this study is that scholars need to develop and test new metrics and measures that can be applied to evaluate chaplaincy programs in order to assess just how well they are meeting the needs of organizational members and contributing to individual and organizational outcomes, while minimizing or mitigating any attendant risks.”

“Attendant risks,” according to the report, are underlying pressures to conform to the type of faith used by the chaplains and/or the business leaders who engaged the program. The report notes that “proselytizing motivation could place the chaplains in an awkward situation as they are trained to ‘share the gospel only when invited to do so,’ rather than at the urging of organizational leaders, and also place employees who are not of the particular faith tradition in the situation where they may feel coerced to adopt certain religious views or risk losing their jobs.”

SOMEONE WHO CARES
McCutcheon was first exposed to a chaplaincy program while working at Pace Industries and knew he wanted to offer the same services at Polytech. He contracts with the same service Marketplace Chaplains USA, which employs 31 chaplains in Arkansas who work with 11 companies, including three in Northwest Arkansas. Marketplace provides one male and one female chaplain for each client location.

McCutcheon said the team comes through the plant about once a week to visit with employees and see if there’s anything the employees need help with or want to talk about. The chaplains are also available to visit employees and their family members in emergency situations such as a death or illness in the family.

“They are really sensitive about everyone’s time (at the plant),” McCutcheon said. “They are really there to provide a service if you need someone to talk to. From my perspective, it’s showing that you have someone who cares when you’re in those situations.” 

What the employees talk about with the chaplains is always confidential unless it’s illegal or causing harm to someone. Polytech gets a general report every six months that shares the general topic areas that are the biggest stressors to employees. 

RATES, RULES
John Lindsey is the division director for Arkansas and Louisiana for Marketplace Chaplains. He’s been with the organization for 23 years and was a regular chaplain for 11 years. He said the company’s largest client is Pilgrim’s Pride Poultry with about 50,000 employees reached nationwide. 

Lindsey said many companies who hire Marketplace hear about their services through word-of-mouth or media coverage. The rates depends on the number of employees the company wants served with a flat rate up to a certain number, with increases for employees beyond that.

All the male chaplains must be ordained but because not all Protestant denominations ordain women, the women do not have to be ordained. All chaplains must agree to the Marketplace Chaplains’ statement of faith and agree to work in teams.

Gene Eggman, executive vice president of Human Resources and Government Affairs at Pace, said the Marketplace Chaplains program is contracted to serve all of the Pace locations in North America since 2009.

“A common theme found on our vision and values statement is a commitment to compassion, which is something we strongly believe in,” Eggman said. “So in order to provide our associates a better, more compassionate working environment and peace of mind during stressful times, we offer this service at each Pace Industries location.

“In addition to the Chaplain visits to the locations to build relationships they are available to them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide counseling support, advise, encouragement and personal attention to associates and their immediate families in need of a listening ear.”

FAITH, NO FAITH
Other companies in Northwest Arkansas have their own internal chaplaincy program. Tyson Foods was contacted Sept. 4 about its internal chaplaincy program but declined to comment. This denial was received on Sept. 29 after repeated attempts to connect with Tyson.

Tyson does, however, address its chaplaincy program on its website. According to the site, about 115 chaplains serve the company’s more than 115,000 employees. The program began in 2000.

“Organized as ministers in the workplace, these fellow Team Members represent a variety of religious faith backgrounds. Each chaplain is specially equipped by training and temperament to serve the wide depth and breadth of faith traditions held by their fellow Team Members, including those Team Members who claim no faith tradition,” the website reads. 

Some chaplaincy services are sensitive to the fact that some workers may not believe in religion or a God. Gil Stricklin, founder and president of Dallas-based Marketplace Ministries, addressed that issue in an October 2013 report in HC Online, an Australian-based news service for the human relations industry. Marketplace Ministries is the parent company of Marketplace Chaplains.

“There are still a lot of skeptics in the workplace," Stricklin said in the HC Online article. “If you mention chaplains or religion or faith they say: 'How can you take religion to the workplace? We don't mix religion and work. We don't mix church and state.”