The Importance of Employee Counselling at Workplace

Today the latest trend in Corporate HR world is “Employee Counselling at Workplace”. This trend has been imported from the United States to India.

In this competition world there are de-stressed employees in each and every organization. It’s difficult to find a tension free employee in an organization.

Organization’s has started Counselling at Workplace to retain the current employees, the talented employees, to increase the productivity and this is one of the way to motivate their employee.

Counselling is conducted by the employer and at the cost of employer, its free for employees. Many organizations have now started employee counselling at their workplace and making it as a part of their organization.

Organization hires a professional as a counsellor or keeps a part time counsellor or selects a senior person from company for counselling.

Meaning of Employee Counselling

Employees face lots of problems in day to day life, they may have problem with their subordinates, colleagues, system of the work or may have problem in personal life.

This problem starts affecting their work, their career and their performance in job. Counselling is like giving advice, sorting out the problems of employees, guiding and helping them for the problem they face in office or in personal life.

Employee counselling is done to bring out a positive result from the de-stressed employee. In simple terms employee counselling is like a stressed person discuss about the problem or about the poor performance and other person consoles and try to sort the problem.

Why counselling at workplace?

Employees face through the stress of completing the targets, work-load, meeting deadlines, relations with subordinates or colleagues, work-life balance, lack of time and higher responsibility.

Counselling helps the employees to come out from the problems, gives a new way to deal with the problems. Counselling shows how much the employer care for the employee.

Counselling may help to identify the employee the work related problems and the poor performance.

Benefits of effective counselling

1. Helps employees to tackle with the problems effectively
2. Employees are able to sort their problems
3. Helps in decision making
4. A new way to look at the perspective.
5. May reduce the number of absenteeism of employee
6. It may prevent termination from employer or resignation from employee.
7. It reduces the cost of hiring new employee and training new staff.
8. Possibility of smooth coordination between employer and employee.

Qualities of counsellor

1. The counsellor should be either a professional counsellor or any senior, experienced, mature employee.
2. The counsellor should be a good patient listener.
3. Counsellor should be able to understand the problem of employee and should be able to give a proper advice.
4. Counsellor should be able boost the employee for his/her career path and show a positive way.
5. Counsellor should be able to sort out the official problems of the employee.
6. Counsellor should not compare the employee with other employees.
7. Counsellor should be able to understand the situation of the employee.
8. Counsellor should have warm manners and social etiquettes.
9. Excellent communication skills
10. Counsellor should have sufficient time to understand and listen about the employee problems. It does not means that counselling should go on for hours.

Problems of counselling at workplace

Employee will not be able to discuss their official or personal problems with the counsellor, if they don’t trust or have faith in counsellor.

They may think of getting leaked their problems or else may become worse if the counsellor let know their problems to others in the organization. Counsellor should be able to keep the confidentiality about the counselling session with the employee.

At the last employee counselling has a positive impact on the employee’s life as their problems are solved and they lead a stress free life.

Counselling increases the productivity of employee and the confidence about the work. The corporate world is getting changed and so the HR process also. Counselling not only helps employees but also show how much the organization cares for employees.