Marketplace Chaplains Addressing Millennial Surge in Workplace with Innovative Ways
With millennials continuing their demographic surge in the American workplace, Marketplace Chaplains, America’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization, is introducing new programs and familiar work/life balance methods to meet the needs of the younger working generation.
A recent PriceWaterhouse survey titled, “Millennials at work: Reshaping the workplace,” states today’s younger workers are looking for work/life balance over increasing pay, something many companies are addressing by adding Marketplace Chaplains to their roster of employee services.
“This generation are committed to their personal learning and development and this remains their first choice benefit from employers. In second place they want flexible working hours. Cash bonuses come in at a surprising third place,”1 the report released early this year states as one of its key findings.
That’s exactly one of the reasons millennial-dominated VHA Corporation in California chose to partner with Marketplace Chaplains more than five years ago. Visionary CEO Vincent Huang and his brother Jimmy Huang were looking for ways to help their employees, mainly in the age range of 22 to 35. “Our Marketplace Chaplains have demonstrated high value for our team members. The service they provide is such a blessing to us,” Jimmy Huang said.
The reseller of wireless communications says, “Having the voluntary, confidential, on-site chaplain program has been a big help to our employees. Our company was voted ‘The best place to work for,’ by L.A. Business Journal for four years straight and our Chaplain care team plays a major part of it,” Huang added.
Taylor Bledsoe, 32, poised to oversee family metal bleacher business, Sturdisteel, in the near future values having chaplains who are capable of dealing with a younger workforce. “Millennials communicate in different ways and may have different issues than employees of the past, so you always have to be flexible to address them, which is one thing I think our chaplains do very well.”
One recent adaptation from Marketplace Chaplains is the new mobile app MyChap which allows employers and employees to message their workplace chaplains for any issue or request a visit. “It is a very cool way to call your chaplain whenever you need them,” Bledsoe said. Additional resources pertaining to a myriad of life issues are also available by category for users of the exclusive app.
Larry Neilson of Neilson Marketing, another California millennial company, noted that plugged-in chaplains are a perfect fit for his plugged-in company.
According to the PwC Study, some millennials don’t feel the promises of employers are being met which is why they are looking for new places to work. “Millennials are looking for a good work/life balance and strong diversity policies but feel that their employers have failed to deliver on their expectations. 28% said that the work/life balance was worse than they had expected before joining,”1 the PwC report stated.
“Employees of all ages, will always need help from time-time-to-time to process and deal with life’s ups and downs, whether issues at home, or on the job. Marketplace Chaplains will be there to offer hope and help with resources they need. Visionary leaders implement this level of care as a cultural, strategic initiative for their diverse, multi-generational staff,” said Marketplace Chaplains Executive President and CEO Doug Fagerstrom.
Marketplace Chaplains currently serves more than 630,000 company employees and their family members in 46 states, 9 provinces, 1,232 cities, 4 international countries and 1 commonwealth.
For more information on this unique employee benefit which has been featured in 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