Valentine’s Day Stresses Helped by Use of Marketplace Chaplains
February 12, 2014 | 
General
With the February holiday season well underway, restaurants and retail specialty shops are under a lot of pressure to produce goods and services and meet the needs of their customers. Dozens of them are continuing the growing trend of using workplace chaplains to help employees handle these work-related pressures by using Marketplace Chaplains.
Restaurants, distribution centers and other businesses across the country use Marketplace Chaplains to help their employees manage the stresses they face both in the workplace and in life.
Marketplace Chaplains, America’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization, formed in 1984, currently serves 590 clients at 3,115 service locations, in 44 states, 966 cities, 4 foreign countries and 1 commonwealth, with more than 2,800 chaplains, caring for over half a million employees and their family members.
“Marketplace is delivering on what was promised from the beginning and we thank you. You have done a great job in building relationships with our McLane team,” said Bobby Carlson, President, McLane Sunwest, a large food distribution company, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Among one of the new clients for Marketplace Chaplains is a jewelry store in Asheville, North Carolina, an industry which can be totally overwhelmed during the Valentine’s Day holiday. While it can be seen as a time of love and excitement for some, for others it’s full of stress and pressure.
In a recent article published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star,1 Mandi Warpenburg, Case Manager at Terre Haute Regional Hospital’s Behavior Health Unit, said, “Some (people) experience the pressure of finding just the right gift, the right reservation, and trying to ‘make sure the day is perfect.’ The issue of money, in particular, causes a lot of anxiety with some couples. Anxiety is also felt by others who are single, divorced or widowed, as Valentine’s Day ‘kind of gets shoved down their throat.’”
Marketplace client company Ghyslain Chocolatier in Union City, Indiana, cites Valentine’s Day as their second busiest season for their luxury brand, behind only Christmas and just ahead of Mother’s Day. The unpredictability of the workplace, during the holidays especially, is what led Buz Underill to employ the services of Marketplace Chaplains for his Florida restaurants. “We work with a lot of young people in our restaurants, some of them in their first ever jobs, and they have all kinds of pressures in their lives,” said Underill.
Bruce Williams, Owner, and General Manager Louis Galvan, of client company Irma’s Southwest Grill in Houston, Texas, said chaplains offer valuable support on the job. “They have helped me in dealing with our staff and with the issues we all face in the workplace,” Galvan said.
The American Express Spending & Saving Tracker2 recently conducted a random online sample among 1,504 people, and estimates Americans will spend an average of $213 on Valentine’s Day for a total of $37 billion.
According to a recent National Retail Federation’s press release3, the average expected spending in 2014 will be closer to $133.91 per person, with an expected total of $17.3 billion spent.
Either way, the Valentine’s Day receipts and products will be produced by hard working folks in constantly evolving work and life conditions.
“While Valentine’s and President’s Day are typically periods of happiness and joy for many, it can also be a stressful time for those who are working long hours to make sure the holidays are a special time for others. That is why these innovative CEOs are caring for their employees by using trained, compassionate chaplains to help them face life’s every day challenges,” said Marketplace Chaplains Executive President and COO Richard S. De Witt.
2 http://about.americanexpress.com/news/pr/2014/valentines-day-2014-more-spend-for-love.aspx
3 http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1759
