Workplace chaplains bring spiritual healing to the job

Everything is fine, Collier assures her.

Putnam is one of two chaplains who regularly visit TriMont, which has 333 employees in Atlanta. When an employee died unexpectedly, they were there to counsel other workers. They are also there to lend an ear and offer counseling when employees face illness, the loss of a loved one or one of the curveballs that life can throw. All discussions are confidential.

It used to be such conversations mostly took place in God's house. Now, they're taking place in the office. God, it seems, may have one-upped the traditional workplace employee assistance program, a benefit which helps workers identify and resolve personal issues and concerns that could affect their performance.

"I think the reality is we like relationships, that's the nature of human beings," said Shane Satterfield, an ordained minister and Georgia division director of Texas-based Marketplace Chaplains USA. "If I can see you face-to-face, I know you're real. I know I can trust you."

"There's no pressure," to participate, said the Rev. Dale Taylor, a Church of the Nazarene minister, who works with Putnam helping TriMont staffers. They're not there to proselytize or pass judgment. The service is available to church-goers and non-churchgoers alike.

The service is free to workers, although companies pay a fee, per employee. Marketplace, which was founded in 1984, provides chaplain services to corporate clients in 46 states and several foreign nations.

Margaret Caput, vice president of human resources for TriMont, said the company, which also has an employee assistance program, has not received any fallout, even from non-Christian employees. Marketplace officials said if a workers wants to talk to an imam or rabbi, they can get a referral.

"I think it adds to the culture by giving employees the option of a much more personalized and relationship-based support system," she said.

Caput also said it affects productivity and could reduce absenteeism. "When employees have a resource to consult about issues they are wrestling with, they are less likely to take those burdens into the workplace with them, and better able to manage them."

The service isn't limited to employees. When a guest died unexpectedly at a Savannah hotel client, a Marketplace chaplain was called to help the grieving widow until family members could arrive from out of town.

Angela Small, an operations manager at Courtyard by Marriott Savannah Historic District, used the service when her daughter was hospitalized. The chaplain immediately went to the hospital and "mentored to myself and the family," Small  said. "It was good for support. She was there. She sat with my daughter at times. It  took a lot of stress off me as a mother."

Demand has risen for such services, Satterfield said.

The economy may be partly to blame. Last year, more than 900,000 homes were lost to foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service. Many Americans also remain iffy about the future of the economy and job losses.

However, workplace chaplain programs are not new.

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, in fact, had perhaps one of the earliest workplace chaplaincy programs. The company hired a minister to serve as pastor counselor for the company and its employees in 1949. The company offered this chaplain services to employees until 1996, according to a spokesman for Reynolds American Services, the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Snuff Company, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company and Niconovum AB.

Today, an estimated 25 U.S. companies provide chaplain services to employers, experts say. Some companies handle a handful of employers. Others may place chaplains in hundreds of locations.

North Carolina-based Corporate Chaplains of America has between 30 and 50 clients in Georgia, said vice president Dwayne Reece. Corporate chaplains differ from some of their competitors because their chaplains are full time. He said many clients report reduced turnover rates.

Corporate chaplains can often help people in a way that a company's leadership may not be trained to do, said Richard Bogan, regional vice president of operations for Southeastern Freight Lines, which has operations in metro Atlanta, and is a Corporate Chaplains of America client.

"Sometimes you don't know how good it is until you really need it," he said.

Large corporate chaplain services, though, aren't the only players. Some chaplain relationships have grown organically.

Several years ago, Matchstic, an Atlanta-based brand identity agency, worked on a branding project for City Church-Eastside, a local church attended by one of the firm's co-owners. Over time, they all developed a relationship with the Rev. Scott Armstrong, who now serves as Matchstic's chaplain.

"They were so generous to us, we saw this as a way to give back," Armstrong said.

Paul Horn, president of Workplace Consultants in Bethesda, Md., said employers may reap multiple benefits of having a chaplain so close at hand.

"Employees sitting at work worrying about their aged parents and other issues, don't help the company," he said. "Talking with someone who can assist with that, and put their minds at ease, may be invaluable."