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The latest trend catching up in the corporate HR across the world is 'Employee
Counseling at Workplace'. In the world of ever increasing complexity and the stress in
the lives, especially the workplaces of the employees, employee counseling has emerged
as the latest HR tool to attract and retain its best employees and also to increase the
quality of the workforce.
Organizations have realized the importance of having a stress-free yet motivated and
capable workforce. Therefore, many companies have integrated the counseling services
in their organizations and making it a part of their culture. Organizations are offering the
service of employee counseling to its employees.
Employee counseling can be explained as providing help and support to the employees
to face and sail through the difficult times in life. At many points of time in life or
career people come across some problems either in their work or personal life when it
starts influencing and affecting their performance and, increasing the stress levels of the
individual. Counseling is guiding, consoling, advising and sharing and helping to resolve
their problems whenever the need arises.
Ingredients of counseling:
• Performance counseling: Ideally, the need for employee counseling arises when
the employee shows signs of declining performance, being stressed in office-
hours, bad decision-making etc. In such situations, counseling is one of the best
ways to deal with them. It should cover all the aspects related to the employee
performance like the targets, employee's responsibilities, problems faced,
employee aspirations, inter-personal relationships at the workplace, et al.
• Personal and Family Wellbeing: Families and friends are an important and
inseparable part of the employee's life. Many a times, employees carry the
baggage of personal problems to their workplaces, which in turn affects their
performance adversely. Therefore, the counselor needs to strike a comfort level
with the employees and, counseling sessions involving their families can help to
resolve their problems and getting them back to work- all fresh and enthusiastic.
• Other Problems: Other problems can range from work-life balance to health
problems. Counseling helps to identify the problem and help him / her to deal
with the situation in a better way.
Apart from their personal problems, there are various reasons which can create stress for
the employees at the workplace like unrealistic targets or work-load, constant pressure to
meet the deadlines, career problems, responsibility and accountability, conflicts or bad
inter-personal relations with superiors and subordinates, problems in adjusting to the
organizational culture. Counseling helps the employee to share and look at his problems
from a new perspective, help himself and to face and deal with the problems in a better
way. Counseling at workplace is a way of the organization to care about its employees.
The biggest bottleneck in employee counseling at the workplace is the lack of trust on the
employee's part to believe in the organization or his superior to share and understand his
problems. Also, the confidentiality that the counselor won't disclose his personal
problems or issues to others in the organization. Time, effort and resources required on
the part of the organization are a constraint.
Benefits of counseling
Conclusion:
Counseling can go a long way in helping the employees to have better control over their
lives, take their decisions wisely and better charge of their responsibilities; reduce the
level of stress and anxiety. Counseling of employees can have desirable consequences for
the organization. It helps the organization when the employees know that the
organization cares for them, and build a sense of commitment with it. It can prove to be
of significant help to modify the behavior of the employees and more so to re-enforce the
desired behavior and improve and increase the employee productivity.
http://www.naukrihub.com/hr-today/employee-counseling.html
An employee should be counseled when he or she has personal problems that affect job
performance. Supervisors should recognize early signs. Signs of a troubled employee
include:· Sudden change of behavior
· Preoccupation
· Irritability
· Increased accidents
· Increased fatigue
· Excessive drinking
· Reduced production
· Waste
· Difficulty in absorbing training
· Substance abuse
In the role of the counselor, the supervisor listens, limits, and refers. The supervisor uses
active listening and reflective listening skills. By listening the supervisor helps the
employee to feel valued and understood. The employee is encouraged to talk and explore
and to understand more about how he or she feels and why. The employee can consider
options and examine alternatives and may be able to choose a solution to his or her
problems. The supervisor can help the employee develop clear objectives; to form
specific action plans and to do, with support what needs to be done. The supervisor helps
employees help themselves. In counseling, the supervisor limits comments to the
employee's job performance, since the supervisor is not an expert in the problem area.
The supervisor refers or gives information to the employee. Informing mainly passes
along data and information.
Step 1. Describe the changed behavior. Let the employee know that the organization is
concerned with work performance. The supervisor maintains work standards by being
consistent in dealing with troubled employees. Explain in very specific terms what the
employee needs to do in order to perform up to the organization's expectations. Don't
moralize. Restrict the confrontation to job performance.
Step 2. Get employee comments on the changed behavior and the reason for it. Confine
any negative comments to the employee's job performance. Don't diagnose; you are not
an expert. Listen and protect confidentiality.
Step 5. Follow up. Once the problem is resolved and a productive relationship is
established, follow up is needed.
Substance Abuse
Some problem performance stems from substance abuse. In handling alcohol or drug
abuse situations, the supervisor must avoid inferences and stick to actual clues. He or she
avoids giving advice. The supervisor gives support and information, if needed, and makes
clear that rehabilitation is the employee's responsibility.
Career Guidance
more at http://www.citehr.com/40266-overview-employee-
counselling.html#ixzz1Ao8TyAdb
1.
2.
Making notes and reviewing official standards can help the supervisor identify
problematic behavior.
Confronting the problem employee can be a difficult first step, but it is crucial to
do so before more formal counseling can begin. The employee may be genuinely
unaware of problematic behavior, or may deny that his behavior is negative or
harmful. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, it's important
for the supervisor to review all guidelines and standards that the employees are
obligated to follow. If the supervisor can point to specific and official guidelines,
this helps the employee recognize that his behavior is unacceptable and needs
addressing. The supervisor can also organize his own thoughts on the negative
behavior beforehand and know exactly how to confront the problem employee in
a tactful and yet effective way. This will help to avoid defensiveness or personal
attacks and keep the counseling on topic.
4.
Tact and diplomacy can help both the supervisor and the problem employee.
Although the supervisor may feel some personal frustration toward the problem
employee, the general goal of the counseling session is to improve the work
environment and benefit the overall organization. Teamwork should be
emphasized over personal failures. According to the Public Entity Risk Institute,
the supervisor should take special care to put personal feelings aside and remain
as professional and focused as possible during the counseling. While joking has a
place in the workplace, this may be the wrong setting, since a problem needs to be
addressed tactfully and firmly. Friendliness can come through without sarcasm or
unrelated jokes. The supervisor should check in frequently with the employee
during counseling to guarantee that her points are clear and that
misunderstandings are kept to a minimum.
Types
Process
3. Employees counseling services give all staff the opportunity to bring their
problems to the forefront. Staff members must give the company permission to
refer them to a counseling service. The first meeting usually provides a
opportunity for both the employee and counseling service representative to know
each other as well as the nature of the problem. The next step involves developing
an effective plan for confronting and resolving the problem. The employee
counseling service will likely offer relevant communication skills along with
other conflict resolutions techniques to engage the situation. After this, the
counseling service will monitor and evaluate the results of the resolution process
and suggest changes if necessary. Therefore, an employee is never alone in her
attempt to eliminate the problem.
Benefits
4. When companies give serious attention to the state of their employees, these
companies open themselves up to growth and prosperity. According to Mike Lee,
the CEO of Management Success, employees feel satisfied and secure when they
know that management cares about their problems and challengers. Therefore,
employees are free to concentrate and to improve their performance while helping
to fulfill the organization's purpose and mission.
Identification
As a team leader or manager, you will, at times, come across team members feeling low
and not performing as expected. Most of the times, this is due to low morale or lack of
motivation, arising from problems they may be facing at work. With excess work
pressure, employees tend to get worked up and stressed. An effective way of dealing with
such issues is providing proper counseling at the right time. Counseling has been known
to solve motivation related performance issues quite well.
You do not need to be a professional counselor to be able to coach and counsel your team
mates. If you just keep in mind the tips mentioned here, you may be able to counsel your
colleagues towards better performance.
• Listen and show confidence: Do not ignore the employee problems as trivial and
listen to them. Believe in their abilities, show confidence in their work and tell
them that the organisation has a lot of expectations from them. Such trust and
confidence motivates the employees to resolve issues and perform better.
• Focus on the problem and not the person: However big or small the problem is,
it is affecting performance and needs to be discussed. But remember the real
culprit is the problem and not the person. So, instead of focusing on the employee,
try to focus on understanding the problem.
• Give suggestions and solutions: After understanding the problem, try to help the
person solve it. Take the employee’s opinion about the ways the issue can be
resolved. Analyse the various solutions and give suggestions. A discussion about
the solutions may actually help you figure out and eliminate the pain point.
• Follow up: Follow up after regular intervals to see if the counseling has helped. It
not only shows your genuine interest in the well being and performance of the
team mate but also helps you identify gaps and other issues. Moreover, following
up helps you evaluate the success of the action plan.
http://info.shine.com/Career-Advice-Articles/Career-Advice/5-tips-for-effective-
employee-counseling/1688/cid2.aspx
Companies are increasingly finding the need to implement employee counseling
programs. The assumption is that employee counseling services promotes the well being
of employees. A “healthier” employee is likely to be a more productive employee.
COMPONENTS
3. Referral – Effective counseling programs must be willing to refer clients with needs
that fall outside the expertise of HR personnel to other specialize resources. For example,
an employee addicted to drugs may need to be referred to a drug treatment program. The
point is that people who recognize their limits staff effective counseling programs.
CONCLUSION
Reference
Werner, J.M., & DeSimone, R.L. (2009). Human resource development (5th ed.). Mason,
OH: South-Western Cengage.
http://www.helium.com/items/1801532-components-of-employee-counseling-programs-
employee-assistance-programs-employee-counseling?page=2