End of Summer School Time Stress Drives Employers to Unique Workplace Relief Program
August 7, 2015 | 
Marketplace Matters
The end of summer means the beginning of school for millions of children, as well as increased stress for their parents, as they seek to get their family readjusted to a new schedule, and the additional pressures of spending thousands of dollars on back-to-school clothes and supplies.
It’s a recurring trend that hundreds of employers nationally are seeking to combat with the utilization of the strategic worksite program Marketplace Chaplains, the country’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization.
“We have a lot of female employees at the bank, and the Marketplace Chaplains are really good about coming right up to them and seeing how they are doing and asking what they need and how they can help,” said Executive Vice President Pam Burdine at North Dallas Bank.
“They have been very helpful to a lot of people.”
An August 6, 2015, survey by online provider SOASTA found that many people feel getting their kids ready for school, even via online shopping, can be stressful. According to the survey, shopping online is stressful for most (91%) of those surveyed. Over half report shipping costs (57%) and inventory concerns (51%) stress them out, while 50% say not being able to test what they’re buying online is stressful.1
In its July 15th survey on back-to-school spending, the National Retail Federation reported the average American household will spend $630.36 on back-to-school items this year, and the total spending will total $68 billion nationally this year.2
Johnny Bledsoe, President & CEO of Sturdisteel of Waco, Texas, has a wide variety of male and female employees, and stated he sees the Marketplace Chaplains as a good stress-relief program for his growing company. “We always have deadlines and pressures in the workplace, but especially this time of year, when moms and dads are getting their kids ready for school and college. That can be a very stressful time.”
That is exactly the same scenario the wife of a Colorado Marketplace client’s employee found herself in this summer when her husband’s new job moved their family to a new area. The market soon turned and her husband was sent out of state to work, leaving her alone with their five-year old son to get ready for another school year. She said the time spent with the female Marketplace Chaplains have been very helpful.
“We have built up trust, and she’s helped me keep a positive attitude, especially now that my husband has returned and we live in a small one bedroom apartment along with our dog,” the employee’s wife said.
“Our chaplains, male and female, are here on a regular basis and have proven to be an invaluable member of the team,” Bledsoe added.
Marketplace Chaplains provides more than a dozen services both inside and outside of the workplace. Services range anywhere from confidential discussions to crisis visits, and hospital and jail visitations. Currently, Marketplace Chaplains have more than 2,300 chaplains serving in 3,500 client company locations in 45 states, in more than 1,000 American cities, plus 6 international cities and 1 commonwealth.
“Stressful times never take a vacation and that’s why these CEOs and employees have found a trained, caring Marketplace Chaplain is one of the best pressure relief methods in today’s hectic workplace,” said Marketplace Founder Gil A. Stricklin
For more information on this unique employee benefit which has been featured with Marketplace Chaplains on CNN, NBC Nightly News, and in the Washington Post, the New York Times and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, visit https://mchapusa.com.
To arrange an interview with a Marketplace Chaplain contact Art Stricklin, Vice President Public Relations, at artstricklin@mchapusa.com or call 1-800-775-7657.
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