Most of the organizations these days, the author says, encourage managers to play the role of counsellors. Why do they do this?
Directions: Read the passage and answer the following question.
In today’s fast moving world, many young professionals are vulnerable to stress. Stress could emanate out of various situations such as lifestyle, health or relationship issues, lack of support system at home and competitive focus on acquiring material symbols of success and career advancement. Due to the tight timelines for delivery and increased focus on performance outcomes, many employees are unable to enjoy a proper work life. To add to this, the current economy has impacted many companies’ revenues and profits which, in effect, have put many jobs at risk resulting in the frequency of counselling support and guidance going up significantly. Both formal sessions, involving a trained counsellor and informal sessions, with immediate boss or group HR, are becoming routine for employees who are unable to cope with such high stress levels. Employees are often found to confide comfortably in counsellors as their approach to the problem is objective and discreet.
However, these days, most organizations encourage managers to play the role of counsellors and are expected to constantly engage in one-to-one conversations with their team members to understand them and help them during their difficult times. To ensure the mental and emotional health of its employees, Intelenet has adopted unique employee assistance programme, the service of a professional outfit specializing in offering varied services related to the field of human behaviour. This outfit offers services that help employees help themselves. This on-site counselling is a fully confidential service. Information that employees share with the counsellors from this outfit is used only for the sole purpose of helping them and is not shared with any other person without the expressed consent of the employee. Counsel is another initiative taken by Intelenet which provides employees the opportunity to come out of their nagging stress and enhance their lives. Employees can consult these professionally trained counsellors who modify their perception, behaviour, personality to bring a better understanding amongst colleagues at the work place. The unique way of I-Counsel service is that counsellors visit the operators’ floor process-by-process and explain to employees what counselling is and how it could benefit them in their day-to-day lives.