Alice Maryn
iuk loves her job. Every Tuesday, she goes to work at a large kitchen cabinet company in Abbotsford. She is not a cabinet-maker, a receptionist, a manager, or a foreman, but she does work alongside the employees of every department. She is a chaplain with Marketplace Chaplains, hired by Columbia Kitchen Cabinets to meet the spiritual needs of its 160 employees.
Chaplain Alice Maryniuk and Nikki Biondi (in the black shirt) Columbia Kitchen Cabinets employee
Greeting employees weekly
The hiring of chaplains to provide personal care for employees is a growing trend in the private sector, and the practice is bearing fruit in boosting employee morale, along with a sense of care. Maryniuk makes her rounds like a doctor and greets every employee weekly.
“Not all the topics we discuss are necessarily faith-based,” explained Maryniuk. “Someone might come to work who just had a fight with her husband, or maybe someone needs a listening ear because their teenager has been swearing at them or calling them names.”
If it looks like a discussion is going to need more than five minutes, Maryniuk suggests meeting the employee at lunch or after work, although the employee must take the initiative for the meeting. What they discuss is confidential, and as trust is established, employees open up more to share what’s happening in their lives, what’s affecting or troubling them.
As with any workplace, many of the employees are not Christian. Some don’t believe in God, or follow other faiths, or have drifted away from their Christian walk. “A chaplain can be a pastor for the unchurched,” Maryniuk said. She cares for all people, not just those who have made a decision for Christ. “Managers have reported to me they’re seeing an improvement in their employees because they’re feeling cared for, they’ve got someone to help them to listen to them.”
Benefits to employees
The employees themselves are seeing a positive change in their workplace, and some are seeing victory in their personal lives. Nikki Biondi, a sales rep for Columbia Cabinets, said there is a greater sense of peace at work and increased job satisfaction. “Before our company did this, my life was like a lot of people’s – up and down, and a lot of turbulence,” Biondi shared. “Since I met Alice, a lot of peace has [come] into my life. And even the people who don’t believe [in God], it’s incredible the change in them. The change is all around me.”
“There is nothing small that’s been happening at my workplace since she came,”