Irrespective of whether an individual is a fresher with no work experience or a seasoned veteran of the corporate world both the scenarios require individuals to put in long hours of work, deal with various co-workers and clients, juggle work & life and still meet organisational goals. All these facets of a corporate life could be quite daunting and exhausting to any individual. The effects of such exhaustion can be felt in the lives of those living around them like their coworkers, family, friends etc and can be felt by the individuals themselves. This results in a vicious cycle of low productivity, anxiety, mental fatigue, mood swings etc. The stigma attached to counselling has seen a drastic change over the years, from considering the act of taking up ing as being weak to understanding that tackling one’s problems head on, learning effective coping skills and putting those skills to use practically, even when it's the going gets tough and thereby building a healthier life there has been a steady shift in people’s mindsets.
Why do corporations need therapy?
1.Improving Health & productivity:
It is said that mental health is the first requisite to happiness, and employees who are mentally healthy and fit will be in the right mindset to complete their allotted tasks within their deadlines. This will ensure the overall productivity of the company will increase. The chances of presenteeism will decrease and tasks would actually get completed well before deadlines, improving the efficiency of the workforce and their morale in general.
2. Reducing Employee Turnover:
According to a research conducted by (Koa Health, 2021) about 40% of employee turnover is caused due to mental stress from the organisation. Thus, it is not only important to pay a hefty salary or provide them with augmented benefits but it is also important to ensure that employee mental health is taken care of by the companies if they want to reduce the high turnover rates.
3. Encourages efficient resource management:
Unlike other financial and non -financial benefits provided by the firms to their employees it can be noted that counselling does not require a high capital investment. Thus, providing counselling services to employees as a benefit is not only cost effective to the company but in the long run will lead to better results from their employees.
4. Displacement of Responsibilities:
Making the use of an external medium to provide counselling services helps the company by shrugging the responsibility of maintaining the counsellors, setting up of appointments, tracking clients and handling sessions. Thus, firms can optimally use their resources to achieve other organisational goals while leaving the onus of counselling on us.
5. Productive Solution to Employee Problems:
A scenario wherein an employee brings their office problems to their home and the opposite scenario wherein they bring their home problems to office both these situations leads to unfavorable circumstances. No amount of bonus or financial benefits can help with this problem faced by employees, but a good counsellor could help employees tackle both office stress and other external issues.
References:
Koa Health. (2021). How mental wellbeing impacts engagement and causes turnover. 16.
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Akhil Haridas
M.B.A.
Administrative Intern,
Hibiscus Counselling