In today's super-fast, busy and stressful world, most business organizations or workplaces have employees who might be struggling with work-related stress, office politics, bullying, or personal issues.
An employee who is disturbed in himself will never be as productive as a happy employee. Such thoughts and issues lower the productivity levels of an employee.
To run an organization efficiently and to keep all the employees happy and satisfied, it becomes very crucial for an organization to create a healthy work environment.
What is Employee Counselling ?
Counselling at the workplace is a therapy which is offered to the employees of an organization. This service can be through an employee assistance program. In this program, the employees feel free and safe to discuss their issues (work-related or personal) to the counselor.
The counsellor helps their clients by providing solutions to their problems or helping them find ways to cope with the challenges graciously.
When is workplace counselling needed?
Working environment counselling consistently offers benefits to the associations that perform it; however, a few organizations have a greater requirement for workplace counselling than others.
Eventually, deciding the necessities of your business comes down to the thought of your particular conditions.
A few reasons or factors should be determined if you want to be sure whether your organization needs workplace counselling or not. Some of these factors are:
- Sometimes, an individual is given huge workloads. Such employees tend to feel anxious and stressed throughout the day. Such conditions will not let the employee work efficiently. If you know the workload on an individual employee is too much, it becomes necessary to counsel them before they give up the situation entirely.
- An employee who is new to the firm will find it difficult to adjust to the new work culture. It becomes very crucial to counsel new employees to help them adjust to the work conditions. Many times, new employees are not happily welcomed by workers which make them vulnerable to loneliness and depressing thoughts. Workplace counselling can help new employees conveniently adjust to the company's environment.
- Many times the employees face inter-personal issues and problems. It further leads to office politics or division of the employees into groups rather than a collaborative environment. According to me, an organization cannot give its 100% result if its employees are in competition amongst themselves. In such situations, it becomes very critical to conduct workplace counselling for the betterment of the firm.
- It is hard to have a workplace where everyone's positions, wants, and characters work together, without a battle. In that limit, various workplace issues may cause negative mental indications. Such negative mental manifestations start getting in the way of an employee's productivity levels. He will not work with full zeal and efficiency.
- With a healthy work environment, different ideas and methods are put on the table. During sessions and meetings, conflicting ideas cause arrogance and irritability among employees. Furthermore, the idea that is finally decided to work upon makes the other employees feel that the management is unjust and biased.
Why is workplace counselling important?
Here are some reasons as to why workplace counselling is crucial and how it will benefit your workplace.
A workplace is like a second home to the employees. It is a place where they spend most of their time working, learning, and exploring new things. If the workplace environment is not vibrant, it will create dull employees that will never be a help to the organization. Through workplace counselling, your dull employees too can be turned into charming professionals within days. Being a business coach, I use innovative ways to bring out the best of employees.
No one would like to work or serve a company that is too negative to handle. A positive environment and good vibes are what define a company. If you think your organization lacks the essence of positivity, workplace counselling is the solution you might be looking for. It will take out the negativity from the employees and the workplace and fill the environment with a light and happy mood.
As it is said from old times, talking relieves one's stress and worries. If your organization will provide a qualified counsellor to the employees, they will feel how genuinely you care about their well-being. Talking to a counsellor about all the personal or professional problems, will vent out your thoughts and lighten your stress. The counsellor will also provide optimum solutions to your problems. In this way, if an employee feels like an issue or thought, or an action by someone is becoming a hindrance in their productivity, then workplace counselling will help them.
Many employees discuss their concerns and issues with fellow employees by trusting them. However, some employees listen to one person and spread the word throughout the office. This behaviour badly disturbs the employee. If a company provides a workplace counselling service, then an employee of any department can freely share their problems while their anonymity is maintained. It gives the employee a safe work environment that also cares about their mental well-being.
In an organization, it becomes very difficult to keep a track of all the employees for the managers. Sometimes an employee is not performing well because he did not understand the work and is too afraid to ask again. It will further lead to anxiety and stress. When the employee will submit the incomplete work, he will get scolded by the manager or team lead. This humiliation can further cause depression or feelings of rage in an employee. In this way, many times, we do not even realize how the organization's work environment has been affecting the mental health of its employees. Workplace counselling will help in this situation by letting the employees vent out their emotions.