The basic requisites of employee counselling are:
- Employee Counselling needs to be tackled carefully, both on the part of the organisation and the counselor.
- The counselling can turn into a sensitive series of events for the employee and the organisation; therefore, the counselor should be either a professional or an experienced, mature employee.
- The counselor should be flexible in his approach and a patient listener. He should have the warmth required to win the trust of the employee so that he can share his thoughts and problems with him without any inhibitions.
- Active and effective listening is one of the most important aspects of the employee counselling.
- Time should not be a constraint in the process.
- The counselor should be able to identify the problem and offer concrete advice.
- The counselor should be able to help the employee to boost the morale and spirit of the employee, create a positive outlook and help him take decisions to deal with the problem.
Counselling Guidelines
While conducting a counselling session remember to always:
- Demonstrate professionalism and maintain rapport throughout the session;
- Convey to the client that his or her confidentiality will be strictly protected;
- Speak with the client at his or her level of understanding;
- Conduct an interactive session focused on risk reduction (i.e. both the counsellor and the client contribute to the discussion);
- Clarify important misconceptions but avoid extended talk on issues not related to risk;
- Stay organized and avoid counselling outside the protocol’s structure;
- Know that it is all right to tell the client you will be covering something later;
Avoid collecting data about the client during the counselling session
