Employee Counseling

What is Counseling?

Counseling is discussion with an

employee of a problem that
usually has emotional content in
order to help the employee cope
with it better. Counseling seeks to
improve employee mental health
A good mental health means that
people feel comfortable about
themselves, feel right about other
people, and able to meet the
demands of life.

Contd
Counseling

is an exchange of ideas &

feelings between two people, a counselor & a
counselee, so it is an act of communication.
Since it helps employee cope with problems,
it should improve organizational performance.
It may be performed by both professional &
non-professionals.

Contd
It

usually is confidential so that employees

will feel free to talk openly about their
problems.
Companies had employee counseling
program to improve job satisfaction.

Need for counseling

The need for

counseling arises from
variety of employee
problems, including
stress.

What counseling can do?

The counseling objective is achieved through one or more of the following
counseling functions

Advice

Telling a person what you think should be

done

Reassurance

Giving a person courage & confidence to

face a problem

Communication

Providing information & understanding

Release of emotional
tension

Helping a person feel more free of

tensions

Clarified thinking

Encouraging more coherent, rational

thought

Reorientation

Encouraging an internal change in goals

& values.

The Managers Counseling

Role
Excluding

reorientation, the counseling

functions usually can be performed
successfully by managers.
Managers must not conclude that all their
counseling responsibilities have been
transferred to the counseling department.
A manager should not spend all day looking
for emotional content when a rational answer
will solve the problem.

Types of Counseling
Directive

Counseling

advice giving function

Nondirective

skillful listening is required

feelings need to be accepted

Participative

Counseling

Counseling

cooperative exchange of ideas by counselor &

counselee to solve a counselees problem