Importance of Workplace Counselling Services that Counselor can provide @ workplace Basic Principles of Workplace Counselling

1. Workplace Counselling
Workplace counselling may be defined as the provision of brief
psychological therapy for employees of an organization, which
is (generally) paid for by the employer.

2. Importance of Workplace Counselling
World Health Organization (Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package)
Key factors include:
workload (both excessive and
insufficient work);
lack of participation and control
in the workplace;
monotonous or unpleasant tasks;
role ambiguity or conflict;
lack of recognition at work;
poor interpersonal
relationships;
inequity;
poor working conditions;
poor leadership and
communication;
conflicting home and work
demands.

3. Importance of Workplace Counselling
Mental health problems in the
workplace (According to WHO)
• While it is difficult to know exactly
how many employees have a
mental health problem, the figure
is likely to be significant. In the
United States, for example, 18.2%
of employed people had evidence
of a mental disorder which had
impaired their work performance
within the previous 30 days
(Kessler & Frank, 1997).
Common MH Problems @ Workplace
• Depressive disorders
• Substance use
• Anxiety disorders
• Work-related stress
• Psychotic disorders
• Co-morbidity

4. Importance of Workplace Counselling
Impact of Mental Health Problems @
Workplace
• Increased absenteeism
• Decreased productivity
• Increased costs (Indirect costs)
• Other Losses
Examples of protective factors for
mental health are:
> good social skills,
> secure and stable family life,
> supportive relationship with others,
> positive work climate,
> opportunities for success and recognition of
achievement,
> economic security,
> good physical health,
> attachments and networks within the community,
> access to support services.

5. Mental Health Services at workplace (WHO guidelines)
World Health Organization
The guidance package comprises the
following modules:
> The Mental Health Context
> Mental Health Policy, Plans and
Programmes
> Mental Health Financing
> Mental Health Legislation and
Human Rights
> Advocacy for Mental Health
Mental Health Policy and Service
Guidance Package
> Organization of Services for Mental Health
> Quality Improvement for Mental Health
> Improving Access and Use of Psychotropic Medicines
> Planning and Budgeting to Deliver Services for Mental Health
> Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policies and Plans
> Mental Health Information Systems
> Human Resources and Training for Mental Health
> Research and Evaluation of Mental Health Policy and Services
> Workplace Mental Health Policies and Programmes

6. Importance of Workplace Counselling
McGregor‟s (1960) theory X
• The average human being is inherently lazy by nature and desires to work as little as possible. He dislikes
the work and will like to avoid it, if he can.
• He avoids accepting responsibility and prefers to be led or directed by some other.
• He is self-centered and indifferent to organizational needs.
• He has little ambition, dislikes responsibility, prefers to be led but wants security.
• He is not very intelligent and lacks creativity in solving organizational problems.
• He by nature is resistant to change of any type.

7. Importance of Workplace Counselling
Some of the common reasons for poor performance as enumerated by the
Australian Government (2013a) include:
• an employee doesn't know what is expected because goals and/or standards or workplace policies and consequences are
not clear (or have not been set)
• interpersonal differences
• there is a mismatch between an employee's capabilities and the job they are required to undertake, or the employee does
not have the knowledge or skills to do the job expected of them
• an employee does not know whether they are doing a good job because there is no counselling or feedback on their
performance
• lack of personal motivation, low morale in the workplace and/or poor work environment
• personal issues such as family stress, physical and/or mental health problems or problems with drugs or alcohol
• cultural misunderstandings
• workplace bullying.

8. Importance of
Workplace
Counselling
Counselling in the workplace can help reduce
symptoms of anxiety and depression,
improve mental health, lower levels of
sickness and increase job satisfaction and
commitment.
Counselling Skills Training can provide
managers, supervisors and staff with:
• Improved listening skills.
• Improved communications skills and
effective language patterns.
• The ability to defuse anger and
frustration.
• The ability to identify limitations, and to
work with others at resolving difficulties.
• The skills and knowledge to minimize
stress in the workplace.

9. Importance of Workplace Counselling
• A 2010 systematic study by McLeod of the research evidence, showed that
workplace counselling interventions have been found to reduce sickness
absence rates in organizations by as much as 50%.
• An evaluation by the University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology in 1990 found that the introduction of a counselling service at the
Post Office saved it £102,000 over a six-month period.
• A 2012 Cambridge University study showed clearly that the effect of time-
limited counselling (an average of seven sessions) on distressed clients is
positive. Evidence drawn from a sizeable treatment group suggested that such
counselling leads to an increased sense of wellbeing.

10. Developing strategies-WHO
• increasing employee awareness of mental health issues;
• supporting employees at risk;
• providing treatment for employees with a mental health problem;
• changing the organization of work;
• reintegrating employees with a mental health problem into the workplace.

11. Guidelines for Workplace Counselling
The New South Wales Government (2013) proposed the following as
modalities for performance counselling.
The counsellor should give the employee recognition and not assume the
role of a parent scolding a child.
He or she should ensure that the counselling atmosphere is warm and
conducive for communication.
The counsellor should encourage the employee to gain insight into the
problem
He or she should suggest positive steps that would lead to solving the
problem or improve performance, avoiding giving the employee false hope.
He or she should create a desire for change in the employee by giving
support that could lead to efficiency, not expecting a dramatic change in
the employee's performance because of a single counselling session.

12. Guidelines for Workplace Counselling
Heathfield (2014) enumerated the following modalities for effective counselling to improve employees‟
work performance:
The counsellor should show confidence in the employee's ability and willingness to solve the problem.
He or she should focus on the problem or behavior that needs improvement, not the employee.
The counsellor should determine whether there are issues affecting the employee's ability to perform
or accomplish the task, bearing in mind the four common barriers - time, training, tools, and
temperament.
The counsellor should discuss possible solutions to the problem with the employee by asking the
employee for ideas on how to correct or prevent the problem from future occurrence.
A written action plan that enumerates what the employee, the supervisor, and possibly, the HR
professional, will do to improve the situation should be agreed on.
The counsellor should schedule a date and time for follow-up in order to determine how the employee
is progressing.
The counsellor should encourage the employee by expressing confidence in his or her ability to
improve.

13. TOOLS IN ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT
AREA
• Santosh Dhar, Upinder Dhar and Rishu
Roy. Quality of Work Life Scale
• (QWLS–DDR) English. 750/-
• This scale consists 45 items. It is
divided in four dimensions—I.
proactivity, II. work life balance, III.
human relations, IV. learning
organization and ten factors. It was
standardized on 400 executives in
varied organizations.)
• V. P. Sharma. Comprehensive
Battery of Scale of
Entrepreneurship
• (CBSE–S) English. 1500/-
• (i) self perception of
entrepreneurship traits, (ii)
organizational ability and
management skills, (iii) personality
maturity, (iv) executive reaction
pattern, (v) human relations, and
(vi) human engineering. It contains
180 items.)

14. TOOLS IN ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT
AREA
Som Nath Chattopadhyaya and K. G. Agarwal.
Organizational Climate Inventory
• (OCI–CA) Hindi/English. 750/-
• (This 70 items inventory measures the organizational
climate with the help of eleven areas—
• I. performance standards, II. communication flow, III.
reward system, IV. responsibility, V. conflict resolution,
VI. organizational structure, VII. motivational level,
VIII. decision making process, IX. support system, X.
warmth and XI. identity problems. It is a sensitive
instrument in organization.
S. N. Dubey. Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire
• (MFLQ–D) — L and R Forms Hindi.
• MFLQ Form L — (Leader) Form 750/-
• MFLQ Form R — (Rater) Form 750/-
• It is based on Bass and Avolio Multifactor
Leadership Questionnaire form 5 X short. This
questionnaire consists 45 items of contingent
reward, management by exception (active),
management by exception (passive), Laissez-faire
leadership, Extra effort, Effectiveness, Satisfaction,
Idealized (Behavioral), Inspirational motivation
intellectual stimulation, individualized
consideration.
• It was administered on 100 bank and private sector
industry managers and 200 subordinates.
• It measures the leadership style.

15. TOOLS IN ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT
AREA
Upinder Dhar and Santosh Dhar. Team
Effectiveness Scale
• (TES–DD) Hindi/English. 750/-
• (It contains 20 items. It can be
successfully used for screening out
individuals who have low
• team orientation and are likely to have
inhibiting influence on the
performance of a team. Three factors
— I. dependability, II. cooperation and
III. sharing were identified on the
basis of factor analysis. It was
administered on 350 executive in
organizations.)
• K. Oza and U. Singh. Job
Satisfaction Scale
• (JSS–OSKU) Hindi / English. 500/-
• (This scale consists 30 items divided
into Two Factors (i) intrinsic factor,
(ii) Extrinsic factor. It was
administered on Professional (Sales
Executives, Bank Managers,
Engineers, College Teachers,
Nurses, Doctors).

16. Holistic Mental Health Education Sessions @
various Workplaces
• VIP Industries, SIDCUL, Haridwar
• Regional Training Institute for Medical Officers, Haldwani
• Raiwala Military Station
• PAC Meerut
• PAC Bahadarabad
• Police HQ, Haridwar
• ITBP, Mussoorie
• Railway Training Center, Valsad, Gujarat
• Medical College, Valsad, Gujarat

17. Role of a Counselor in Pre employment testing
• Cognitive ability tests
• Personality tests
• Other tests

18. Role of Counselor in HR Training
• Career Development
• Entrepreneurship Development
• Sensitivity training to change the behaviour
• SWOT analysis and other
• Motivation
• Leadership Building