Who is responsible for counseling?
Because its basis is job performance, a lot of counseling will be combined with the appraisal process and carried out by the people doing the appraisals. Also, much counseling will probably be done at an informal level.
Although there may be "staff" members involved in counseling, such as personnel or welfare staff, it could be said that anyone responsible for the production, performance and welfare of another employee is involved in the counseling process. By definition, this includes all levels of senior management.
Training. Counseling is a part of the overall process of managing people. Thus, all those involved in managing should be aware of the need for it and the techniques used. This implies that skills in counseling should be a part of overall management training.
Referrals. In many cases, the outcome of counseling may be that it is necessary for the employee to seek professional assistance or treatment outside the organization. This could happen, for example, where health, psychological, family or financial problems are involved. The role of the workplace counselor in such instances is either to encourage the employee to seek outside help or else arrange it for the employee, with the employee's consent.
The counselor will have to create a commitment by the employee to do something about the problem. Managers within the organization should not attempt to personally handle and treat situations for which they are not professionally qualified. Managers are not qualified to determine whether or not an employee has severe depression, drug dependence, phobias or some forms of paranoid behavior.
Another situation in which outside counseling assistance may be necessary is in cases where the employee is threatened by internal forces, such as threats to job security. The procedure here is similar; encourage the employee to seek outside help if necessary to improve skills and marketability.
In summary, those required to counsel employees within an organization must be able to:
- identify people whose work performance is affected by personal problems;
- discuss the problems with them;
- be able to refer them to outside treatment or advisory sources where necessary; and
- follow-up on the employee's subsequent progress.
Reprinted with permission. © CCH
Who is responsible for counseling? Because its basis is job performance, a lot of counseling will be combined with the appraisal process and carried out by the people doing the appraisals.
Who is responsible for counseling?
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