Marketplace Chaplains, America’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization, recently celebrated its 30^th anniversary at its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Now, moving into the fourth decade of providing care in the workplace, trend-setting new services and programs have been launched as the work advances in North America alongside China and the Far East already growing.

A fully functioning smart phone application, “MyChap,” has been rolled out across North America to allow client company employees instant access to a chaplain, along with the full implementation of the WorkLife Growth Series.

In addition, Marketplace recently completed successful workplace start-up meetings with Lee International in Seoul, South Korea, and Libbey Glass in Lang Fang, China, our first two client companies in those countries.           The client start-up meetings in South Korea and China bring the number of international countries and/or territories which use Marketplace Chaplains as a strategic plan for their companies and employees to seven, which include Great Britain, Scotland, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

“MyChap” is now located on the App Store and downloadable to mobile devices whereby employees of Marketplace Chaplains client companies may readily access their specific Chaplain Care Team members, send a text or an email, make a call, schedule an appointment or request a resource, 24/7 nationwide and in Canada.

The WorkLife Growth Series consists of formatted interactive presentations by chaplain leaders to employees on topics such as balancing work and family, communication and better listening skills, dealing with workplace change, etc., aimed at strengthening today’s workforce and providing a great venue for chaplain-employee engagement.

All three projects are part of Marketplace’s goal to maintain the trend of cutting edge modernization as they continue to provide service to companies in North America and abroad, offering care and support to employees and their family members.

“When I look at the job-related issues the chaplains have proactively dealt with, I see dollar signs. For each dollar sign I see a time when we did not have to call in our attorneys to settle an issue or conflict at work…” said Mark Daley, III, President of The Generation Companies in North Carolina.

“My only perspective of usage was in reference with an EAP (Employee Assistance Program).  However, the acceptance and the tremendous usage of our Chaplain Care Team at all of the locations has far exceeded my expectations,” added Larry Paulsen. Senior VP Administration and Risk Management of Pioneer Natural Resources in Irving, Texas.

“Just the existence of the Chaplain Care Team at David Weekley Homes helps to set the tone for the level of integrity and morals expected from its people.  It was one of the items that really attracted me to David Weekley Homes because it showed me that he had a vested interest in my overall well-being, not just in what I could do for the company,” said one employee of the large Texas homebuilder.

The trend of companies using cutting-edge technologies to reach far-flung clients and grow in new ways is one being explored in several conferences nationwide. At a recent Open Innovation Summit in Baltimore, Maryland, blogger Sara Caldicott reported in the Innovation Excellence publication on case studies from companies as diverse as Clorox, Amazon, Intel and Pfizer, and concluded that “open innovation success offers firms newfound abilities to pivot rapidly into diverse business models, distant geographies, as well as gain access to new target audience groups and technology platforms.” ¹

“While our 30-year anniversary is certainly a major milestone for our organization, it’s even more important that we continue to pursue leading edge innovations so we are even more equipped to care for the hurting men and women in today’s marketplace around the world,” said Executive President and COO Richard S. De Witt.