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Workplace Counselling ...

What is Workplace Counselling?
 
Workplace Counselling is a way of:

• Increasing productivity
• Increasing employee morale
• Increase levels of job commitment
• Increase levels of job satisfaction
• Reducing costs
• Reducing staff turnover
• Reducing sick leave
• Reducing absenteeism
• Reducing job site accidents
  

Our therapeutic services offer a professional listening ear that can benefit both staff and management at all levels within the workplace. Counselling has already been used in many organisations, and has been considered as the most appropriate form of intervention by employers to handle problems concerning employees in the workplace.

There is a clear and growing evidence base demonstrating that workplace counselling is highly cost-effective, helping to reduce work-related symptoms and stress and lowering sickness absence. Many organisations are recognising the importance of having a working environment that is supportive to the needs of their staff. There is also strong evidence that counselling has a positive impact on organisational health, and will at least pay for itself.

The counselling service does not form part of, or is in place of the organisations/employers disciplinary/grievance procedures, although the service can be used along side these to support the individual involved, in these cases it is normally recommended that the counselling be done during the individuals normal working hours.

Is Workplace Counselling Needed?
 
Anyone can experience stress from their work, depending on the demands of their job, the conditions in which they work, and their individual susceptibility, which can be increased by problems outside of the workplace.
 
According to a survey by the Industrial Society (2001), the most damaging effects of stress on an organisation are absenteeism, decreased productivity and poor judgement. It can also result in poor quality, poor customer care, lack of creativity and accidents.

In a research survey of 270 company line managers:

• 88% claimed a moderate or high level of stress in their work, which 39% claimed had got worse over the past year
• 77% thought stress in the workplace ‘will happen to everybody at some time’
• 52% said they knew someone who had suffered stress severe enough to stop them working and require long-term medical treatment.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (2001):

• 6.5 million sick days are being taken every year as a result of stress
• 500,000 people are suffering from work-related stress or depression in the UK
• Nearly 150,000 workers have taken at least a month off sick because of stress-related illness
• Workers aged between 35 and 44 suffer the highest levels of stress, while the problem increased the longer they stayed in the same job
• The estimated cost of stress to the British industry is £370 million a year, while the cost to society as a whole could be as high as £3.75 billion

The Bristol Stress and Health at Work Study1 found that 1 in 5 people are suffering from high levels of work related stress. This equates to approximately 6.7 million working days lost each year due to work related stress.

Research undertaken by UNUM in 2001, one of Britain's leading income protection insurers, has revealed that the number of claims made due to stress and mental illness have risen an alarming 88% in the past 7 years.

Doctors and nurses are now more likely to take time off because of stress than a cold, according to a survey by Neurolink (an independent board of mental health experts) 2001. It also suggested that 96% feel stress is increasing in the NHS.

A survey carried out amongst Communication Workers Union members employed in companies including BT, the Post Office, Alliance and Leicester, Manpower and Cable & Wireless found that 84% of respondents felt more stressed than five years ago. Bad management and excessive workloads were considered the two main causes of stress.

Stress is clearly a feature of the 24/7 experience, according to a survey carried out to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day in 2001. The survey, looking at how we manage stress in a 24-hour society, revealed:

• 53% of people have suffered from work-related stress in the past 12 months
• 57% of those who have experienced stress says it has worsened in the past year
• 52% of those under stress feel it is damaging their health
• 72% of those who are stressed blame too much work
• 63% of those who report stress expect the problem to stay unchanged or get worse
• 20% have sought medical or other professional help.

A Confederation of British Industry (CBI)survey of over 800 companies, 98% of respondents said they thought that the mental health of employees should be a company concern. Similarly, the large majority (81%) considered that the mental health of staff should be part of company policy. Despite their concerns, however, less than 1 in 10 of these companies had an official policy on mental health.


Does Workplace Counselling Work?

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy report on 'Counselling in the Workplace - The Facts' by Professor John McLeod of the University of Abertay, Dundee, examines over 80 separate studies, published and unpublished, spanning a period between 1954 and 2000 reflecting the experiences of more than 10,000 clients who have made use of workplace counselling. Here are some of the results:

• Levels of work-related symptoms return to the normal range for more than half of all clients, and levels of sickness and absence also fell by 25-50% (In one 1998 study by Professor Cary Cooper of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, the rates of sickness/absence actually fell by an average of 60%
• Workplace counselling is effective in relieving the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression
• People who need workplace counselling show signs of psychological distress equivalent to that found in out-patient psychiatric hospitals
• Work-related anxiety will not go away until we learn how to respond to it differently. Counselling helps people respond differently and quickly
• As a result, levels of job commitment, work function, and job satisfaction also rise, and levels of substance abuse are reduced
• All styles of counselling turn out to be helpful. It is more important to see a well-trained practitioner than opt for one particular approach
• Significant benefits for clients can be achieved in three to eight sessions of counselling
• Over 90 per cent of employees who make use of workplace counselling are highly satisfied with the service they have received, would use it again if necessary, and would recommend it to colleagues
• Even the most rigorous economic analyses show that workplace counselling and Employee Assistant Programmes cover their costs, in terms of economic savings that are generated by employers.”

In a study of a NHS based Employee Assistance Programme, found that even staff that had not used the counselling service felt more valued by the organisation, which led to a ‘feel good’ factor about their employer.

From an employer’s perspective, the rationale for providing staff counselling is likely to be to improve psychological well-being, performance and attendance.