Workplace counselling: everything you need to know

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Types of workplace counselling

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Every company will feel the benefits of counselling in the workplace, but the type of service that’s right for your company will depend on the size, budget, and needs of the business — and your employees.

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Generally, there are three types of workplace counselling services to choose from:

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1. Hire a private counsellor to provide in-house support

Offering a ‘DIY’ approach to employee counselling, some companies employ or contract a private workplace counsellor to support struggling employees in-person via regular drop-in clinics or scheduled appointments.

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2. Outsource support to an employee assistance programme (EAP)

EAPs are the ‘original’ form of workplace counselling, providing employees with access to short-term counselling and other professional guidance via a hotline. Employees can call the hotline to speak with an advisor, who assesses their level of ‘need’ before either directing them to self-help resources or referring them on to speak to a counsellor.

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3. Outsource support to a specialist workplace counselling solution (like Spill)

Another external option, specialist therapy solutions like Spill sit in the category of “modern EAPs”. They provide the same core offering (access to workplace counselling services) but with a few new features intended to overcome the challenges outlined above. The main difference here is that employees can book counselling sessions on-demand themselves using an online booking system, rather than calling a helpline and having to be referred on for further support.

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How does workplace counselling work?

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There are typically five steps involved in accessing workplace counselling, which starts at the point someone realises they need support and ends when they finish their block of counselling sessions. The exact details of each step will vary depending on your workplace counselling provider.

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No matter what type of counselling in the workplace you go for, providers all have the same goal: to help employees safely navigate personal and work related challenges. While each type of counselling for employees will look a little different, the way they work typically follows the same five steps.

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1. Someone in your company realises they need support

With 1 in 4 people experiencing a mental health problem of some kind each year, it’s only a matter of time until someone in your team is in need of support.  The journey to this realisation will look different for everyone — it could be a self-referral, a recommendation from friends and family, or a manager referral — but most workplace counselling services rely on the employee acknowledging they need help and making the first move towards initiating support. 

Sadly this means many people don’t get help until they’re at the point of crisis and need time off work in order to fully recover. At Spill, We believe that effective mental health support means having a system in place to spot the signs of poor mental health at an early stage, and taking proactive steps to present available support to employees when they need it most.

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2. Your employee contacts the workplace counselling service

For most employee counselling providers, your employee will need to get in touch by phone, email, or submit an online form to take the first step towards getting support. For many people, this can be a big moment, so it's important they feel able to do this easily and privately. This means employees can access support anonymously (rather than requesting details from HR) and quickly, with no phone numbers or log in details to remember.

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3. Your employee’s mental health needs are assessed

In the case of most EAPs, employees will initially be put through a triage call with a case manager (typically a non-clinician) who will assess their suitability for workplace counselling. If they pass the suitability assessment, they will then be referred on for support and wait for a call back from the next available counsellor.

When working with a private therapist or a specialist workplace counselling service like Spill, booking a session usually just involves a few questions on how the employee is feeling and anything they are struggling with to give the therapist a bit more context and align on any goals or expectations ahead of time. 

When employees come to Spill for support we don’t ever ask for a doctors note to check for eligibility or run a pre-screening to filter our people who are “too severe”. Our service is set up to support anyone who’s struggling with their mental health.

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4. Your employee attends a workplace counselling session

If you were to receive any form of talk therapy through the NHS, your health insurance, a charity, or an EAP, you would likely only be given one format: a course of therapy. A course of workplace therapy is typically 6-12 sessions long. You speak with the same person in each session and you will meet once a week for the duration. This format has been around since the invention of talk therapy in the early 19th century by Freud and to this day remains the most effective way to support somebody who is really struggling with their mental health.

Unlike most workplace counselling providers, Spill offers therapy in different formats to support all employees regardless of whether they're in crisis or just feeling a bit meh. Employees can book a one-off session to get support with recent life events like a bereavement or a breakup. Courses of workplace therapy are best for longer-term mental health problems (like depression or anxiety) and our Ask a Therapist feature offers message based advice on any question to do with improving your own or other people’s mental health (e.g. how to sleep better).

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5. Your employee finishes counselling and, if they were off, returns to work

Workplace counselling can be beneficial at any time: some people will book sessions as a preventative measure, while others may be off work and use counselling as part of their recovery. When workplace counselling sessions finish, your employee may feel ready to come back to work, need ongoing support, or spend time putting their learnings into practice. 

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The methods of workplace counselling

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Of course, there’s more to employee counselling than just the provider — there are different approaches and techniques within counselling, too (often referred to as specialisms). 

‍The exact style of therapy your team can receive depends on the therapists and specialities within your workplace counselling service. At Spill, our team of therapists can cover over 50 different specialisms, making it an accessible source of support for a diverse range of people and experiences. 

‍The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy has a neat A-Z of the types of therapy, but for now, here are five of the most common methods of workplace counselling.

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1. Solution-focused

A very common approach in workplace counselling, and particularly with EAPs, solution-focused employee therapy tends to be more of a short-term experience. Often, just three or four sessions are needed, during which the therapist will work with an individual on a current problem rather than dwell on the past. It creates a space to set goals and work out how to achieve them, offering up practical ways to help someone feel better.

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2. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

A common approach for a range of mental health challenges and perhaps the most well-known workplace counselling method, CBT focuses on how someone’s thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes affect their feelings and actions. During a CBT session, the therapist will help identify and challenge negative thought patterns, and the resulting behaviour. CBT is a common treatment for a number of mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, stress, sleep problems, and many more.‍

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3. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)

A bit of a mouthful and a somewhat intimidating one at that, EMDR is another method of workplace counselling, developed as a therapy for treating trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using side-to-side eye movements and talk therapy, EMDR can help someone process negative images, emotions, beliefs, and body sensations associated with a traumatic memory. It’s a specialist technique that helps the brain process unresolved memories and make them less distressing. 

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4. Psychodynamic

Developed from psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy helps an individual understand how their past experiences and unconscious thoughts shape their current feelings and behaviour. It’s a technique that aims to find the root of the problem and can be used to help with many different problems, like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and addiction. 

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5. Person-centred

A humanistic approach, person-centred workplace counselling is led by the individual rather than the therapist. It’s a dynamic that can help someone realise what resources and support they have available, build self-confidence, and grow into their true self. In return, the therapist will offer acceptance, honesty, and transparency in a judgement-free space, which allows someone to freely explore their own feelings, beliefs, and behaviours to become more self-aware.

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The benefits of workplace counselling

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Employee counselling benefits both your team and your business as a result of better performance, fewer sick days, higher retention, improved communication, and an all round more productive company.

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The benefits of workplace counselling for employers

With a team that’s feeling great and bringing their best selves to work each day, it’s no surprise that your business will also benefit. As well as improving overall culture and morale, this can lead to big savings financially. 

Here’s why employers should invest in workplace counselling.

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Workplace counselling saves you money

There are three areas that cost your company money when it comes to mental health: presenteeism (when someone shows up at work everyday but is unable to do their job properly), time off, and turnover. Together, they cost a company an average of £1,529 per employee, per year. Instead, spend some of that money on workplace counselling: you can expect a return on investment of £7 for every £1 invested in mental health support.

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Workplace counselling improves employee productivity 

Happy employees are, on average, 13% more productive. Employee counselling can help your team deal with their mental stressors, which in turn enables them to do their work well. And when people do good work, they feel motivated, engaged, and satisfied. 

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Workplace counselling reduces sickness absence 

The average time taken off work by someone due to mental health is now 18 days per year. This comes at a huge cost to employers in terms of both sick pay and reduced output. However workplace counselling interventions have been proven to reduce sickness absence rates by up to 50%, giving employees the tools to actively address and improve their mental health before they reach the point of crisis and have to take time off. 

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Workplace counselling reduces employee turnover

61% of UK employees who left a job in the last year or plan to leave in the next 12 months cite poor mental health as a leading factor. For an employee in emotional pain, work is often a major contributor and as a result, the first casualty. Workplace counselling helps employers to retain (and protect) valuable talent by providing a safe space for employees to navigate challenging moments, develop coping strategies and build emotional resilience. 

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Workplace counselling increases employee engagement

By offering employee counselling, you’re sending a very clear message to your team: you value them, you care for them, and you want to support them. And with 81% of people saying they’ll look for workplaces that support mental health in their future job search, you’ll stand out from the competition, too: when people feel secure and looked after, they’re more likely to enjoy their work and stick around.

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The benefits of workplace counselling for your team

Counselling in the workplace lets your team access mental health support that’s otherwise very difficult to get: 23% of people wait more than 12 weeks to start mental health treatment on the NHS. But aside from making this vital service more accessible, employee counselling has a host of other benefits for your team, too.

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Workplace counselling helps employees build emotional intelligence

Counselling in the workplace gives your employees space to safely discuss and acknowledge their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours. With this comes a level of self-awareness of their triggers, biases, and patterns, improving their emotional resilience and social sensitivity.

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Workplace counselling helps employees manage stress

Work is the most common cause of stress, affecting 79% of people. And a stressed employee is not a happy or productive one. Workplace counselling can help your team find strategies to effectively manage and reduce their stress levels. 

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Workplace counselling helps employees improve performance

Mental health directly impacts an individual’s ability at work: focus, engagement, productivity, and motivation are all affected when someone is dealing with a work-related or personal issue. Workplace counselling offers a way to not only unburden heavy emotions, but to develop coping mechanisms, resilience, and confidence — all things that will help improve performance at work.

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Workplace counselling help employees communicate better

Sharing a difficult emotion doesn’t come easily and this stickiness in sharing how we feel is often mirrored in the workplace. During workplace counselling, people get better at speaking up for themselves: they’ll be able to communicate sensitively, assertively, and honestly about how they feel. At work, these skills can look like offering constructive feedback, openly sharing feelings, and setting better boundaries.

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Compare workplace counselling options

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Spill is a specialist employee counselling service specifically designed to remove the barriers that are so often associated with workplace mental health support.

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We’ve spent the last few years building new features to provide a better therapy experience for employees, and a pay-as-you-go pricing model that guarantees ROI for employers. Here’s how Spill stacks up against hiring your own private counsellor or outsourcing employee wellbeing to an EAP:

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