The on-site human connection made by Marketplace Chaplains is just what the workforce has always needed, even more so during these national and global challenging times.

“The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.” – Pastor and Author Max Lucado

Our Chaplains have brought comfort to many of our employees. They connect to people on a level that is difficult to achieve in a work environment. We want our employees to have access to people outside of our chain of command that give them security to discuss highly confidential and personal information. Our Chaplains are both visible and available to our employees. They are part of the Exacto family and are always willing to attend our events and meet our remote employees. Our Chaplains fit our culture well.

There have been a lot of changes in our industry, but we still deal in a handshake business with service and reliability, which goes back to the early days with Mr. Rego. I brought in (corporate wellness initiative) Marketplace Chaplains because I want my employees to know we care for them.
D CEO Magazine, May 2017

We brought in Marketplace Chaplains in 2016 to help with employee care as we have about 1,000 employees spread out in large and small operations across the state. The chaplains get into all our locations once a week and get to know the employees and become a resource in times of trouble. We have seen some really positive outcomes from the Chaplains that I am not sure would have happened without them. Although we don’t usually know which employees they are, we have heard stories of new and existing marriages supported, and care during family health issues and times of death.

Quarterly, we have implemented “Lunch & Learns” facilitated by our chaplains, exploring topics such as marriage, raising children, raising teens, caring for aging parents, finances, and how to grow spiritually. This has proven quite valuable to our people, helping them to navigate many of the challenges they are facing. I believe our chaplain care, coupled with the “Lunch & Learns,” helps to build some margin into our people’s lives and that enables them to better navigate the pressures of life.

We love our chaplains. They are here for us at all the highs and lows in our lives. I had a chaplain who left her family at the dinner table to go to the hospital and meet with a family that had just lost a child. Our chaplains have performed celebrations and funerals for our employees and as an HR professional, it is comforting to know that when I have an employee in the middle of an illness or tragedy, whether themselves or a family member, our Chaplain Care Team will assist them however they are needed.

This is without a doubt one of the most beneficial programs we have for our employees.

We don’t have a problem with absenteeism.
We don’t have a problem with theft.
We don’t have a problem with corruption.
People know they are loved and appreciated.

The Biltmore had grown from a small family operation to over 1,800 employees. We began asking ourselves ‘how do we keep the ‘smallness’, and how do we assure that someone notices if our people are having a bad day?’ The EAP, still in place, was excellent, but people weren’t calling. That’s when we brought in Marketplace Chaplains.

We started with Marketplace Chaplains a couple months ago. Now I am thinking, ‘How did we do without them?’ Their service has been invaluable to us. One example of excellent care:  an employee lost her husband. She was depressed at home, not wanting to go to work at all. After a couple conversations with our Chaplain, she returned to work and is slowly getting back on her feet.