Michaela Miechová: Corporate psychologist as a new work benefit

The corporate psychologist is becoming a new benefit of our time. ''Employees are increasingly demanded, they face a frantic work pace, often work beyond their capabilities, lose their illusions, burn out... The problem is that stress has become such a part of our lives that we do not realize its limit until the moment when our mental and physical health is already threatened,'' says PhDr. Michaela Miechová, psychologist and owner of the online psychological counselling service MOJRA.cz.

Taking care of the mental health of employees is an increasingly hot topic for companies. Can you say in which period the interest in the services of a company psychologist increased the most? Was it with the advent of the pandemic?

Our online counselling service began offering the services of a company psychologist in 2017. A lot has changed since then, including in the area of employee care. Companies have long been trying to improve the quality of their benefit offerings, based on the current needs of the company, modern trends, etc.

As for the increased interest in mental support for employees, yes, the pandemic has certainly had a significant impact on this and the demand for psychological support has increased significantly.

In connection with the pandemic, the structure of services sought has also changed - companies have started to turn their attention to online benefits. Logically, because suddenly we had lockdowns that made face-to-face contact impossible.

Employees had to adjust to working in a home office, juggling work responsibilities with online learning, running a household. Many missed the daily contact with colleagues, others felt the anxiety of being cooped up at home, with no personal space, plus the fear of illness, the daily stream of negative news... All this soon took a toll on the psyche, which companies began to notice. And HR departments started looking for ways to help employees. Quickly and effectively. Which, thanks to our online environment and years of experience, we can do.

Are large corporations or smaller businesses more interested in the services of a corporate psychologist?

I would say, based on our experience, that the size of the company doesn't play that big a role. Our consultancy is approached by both "family" businesses with ten employees and large corporations with thousands of employees across the globe. The demand ratio is then quite balanced.

What varies is the range of services that companies want to provide to their employees. Smaller companies, in which intimate environments prevail, where employees know each other well, meet, etc., do not usually consider how many consultations will be used. They keep their options open, do not limit the number of sessions with a psychologist, and often provide employees with gift vouchers for consultations with a psychologist for their relatives and friends (either to all of them, e.g. as a Christmas present, or only to certain ones when they know it is needed).

Larger companies and corporations are more conservative with regard to the number of employees and a given budget. They are accustomed to assessing the benefits and usage of services. Often in this case, the initial limitation of the number of consultations is e.g. three consultations/person. We then jointly assess whether the service set-up is satisfactory or whether anything needs to be changed. Our system is developed in such a way that we are able to cover, I would say, all the requirements that companies contact us with.

From experience - companies often remove the limitation on the number of consultations during the course of the collaboration - simply because they overcome initial fears of the boom that this benefit will have. After all, it's still not yoga classes, but consultations with a psychologist that are shrouded in many preconceptions. Therefore, realistically, about 5-7% of employees a year take advantage of the benefit.

Interest in the services of a corporate psychologist has increased with the advent of the pandemic.

Is the job of a corporate psychologist different in a corporation and in a smaller company? If so, how?

Personally, I don't think the size of the company plays a major role. What matters are the requirements and ideas of the company. The psychologist's work is then based on this. Some places prefer only individual consultations, others prefer group consultations. Various webinars etc. are also in demand. The work of a psychologist therefore does not differ that much between a small and a large company. Rather, it is the area of problems that employees in the companies in question are more likely to solve that differs.

Does the company psychologist help only in the area of psychological counselling? If not, what other areas is the corporate psychologist commonly involved in?

The role of a corporate psychologist certainly goes much further than just consulting. The company psychologist also acts as a mediator, soft skills trainer, leads various group activities, seminars, teambuilding, etc.

You will often meet a psychologist during the interview, because the qualities and disposition of candidates are very important for companies. Furthermore, the psychologist helps with adaptation in the company, processes evaluations and suggestions that are important for the company's operation. Of course, in various fields, the psychologist is also part of the regular evaluation of employees. The range of services is huge, it really depends on the preferences of the company.

If I want to use the services of a company psychologist as a benefit for my employees, how does it work?

To describe the whole process would take several pages, so I will try to summarize it. The company can contact us via the form on our website, by email or by phone. A quote will be prepared and we will tell the company the entire process of how the benefit works, setup and integration - most often in the form of an online call with a presentation. The company also gets free test data to try out the entire company's facilities - they have both a company profile with an overview of consultations (they can see the number, but no longer the details of who ordered - we pride ourselves on client anonymity) and an employee profile through which employee orders are made.

Individual requirements and adjustments are then agreed, the contract is signed, and promotion for the employees is prepared. This must not be underestimated, because if the benefit is not well presented, employees will not use it.

The company will also obtain the access data to make the order, which it will pass on to the employees. Once the employee wants to use the benefit, he/she just needs to log in on our website with these details, choose a psychologist, the date and method of consultation (by phone, Skype, WhatsApp and other freely available applications), create his/her (even anonymous) password-protected profile where only he/she can see the overview and details of his/her consultations and submit the order.

Then all you have to do is wait for the consultation date and the psychologist will get in touch with you in the way you have chosen. He or she can also contact the phone support to help with the process.

What is definitely an advantage is that the employee does not have to travel anywhere for the consultation, everything can be done from the comfort of home, from the office, or even from the car. And no one will know about it. The company will not get any personal information from us, the employee can choose anonymous registration and in case of a video call he can have the camera off all the time - but he will always see the psychologist.

A corporate psychologist has multiple roles in companies. It is not always just psychological counselling.

How can employees know which psychologist is right for them?

Our counselling team consists of almost 40 psychologists and we are constantly growing. Employees can choose from all these psychologists. Some focus more on work relationships and problems, others more on family and marital crises. We also have child psychologists.

The bottom line is that all of our psychologists have graduated in psychology at university, have completed various courses, training and training, have at least one year of experience in the field or have experience in coaching.

I dare to say that we are able to cover most of the problems with which our clients turn to us. Of course, we also keep in mind that choosing a psychologist is a process. It is influenced by both the initial sympathies and the focus of the psychologist. Therefore, we let the clients themselves decide on their psychologist, the final choice is theirs. However, we are ready to help them with their choice and decision making. Both online and telephone support is available for staff - until the evening hours. All they have to do is call our counselling line, briefly describe their problem and receive a recommendation for a suitable psychologist. Of course, we can also help with ordering, answer questions and much more. All this completely anonymously and from the comfort of your home or office.

As far as you can tell, do company employees turn to you more for personal or work-related problems? What problems did employees contact you with most in the last year 2021?

Often these work and personal problems go hand in hand. If an employee is unhappy at work, it will reflect on their personal life and vice versa. If he's dealing with a crisis at home, his work engagement drops. Last year, we noticed some interesting phenomena, which were to some extent influenced by the pandemic.

First of all, people started drinking more alcohol. Not so much drinking more, to be fair, as solving alcohol problems - so the attitude of alcoholics looking for ways to address their drinking has changed considerably.

The second interesting phenomenon is partner relationships. These are generally one of the most common problem areas that clients deal with. What has changed in the past year is that we are now being approached much more frequently by men in this regard. According to our counselling centre's research, the reason for this is either to save the relationship from collapse or to win the partner back after a break-up.

From the sphere of businessmen there were many men who "lost their business and thus their illusions" because they found out that their partners were with them only for money and left them in a financial crisis.

Men have also become more involved in raising children and dealing with various educational problems - that is, compared to before.

And in the context of a pandemic, depression, anxiety, fear and worry are common - not so much about the future, but about present events, changes in society, etc. But not just to point to the problems, but the demand for personal development has certainly increased in the last year.

How big a topic is stress management in companies at the moment? Is it a topic that clients often address with you?

It is certainly a huge and topical issue. Employees are being increasingly challenged, faced with a frantic work pace, often working beyond their capabilities, losing their illusions, burning out.

The problem is that stress has become such a part of our lives that we don't realise its limit until our mental and physical health is already at risk. Also, the more your stress level rises, the more your performance and motivation decreases. This is, of course, what companies are trying to prevent.

Can you recommend some tips on how to work with stress not only at work?

There are many methods to work with stress, everyone has to find their own strategy. In general, I can recommend that you plan your time at work as much as possible. Well set time management can work wonders. Try to surround yourself with people you like and are comfortable with. If you can't do that, at least call your partner, parents, friends, children during your break.

Various relaxation techniques can also help you with stress. At work, try deep breathing or muscle relaxation, for example. Some people find a short walk on their lunch break helps. Or open a window and get some fresh air. You can also try visualising yourself in a quiet, pleasant place.

Keeping a journal in which you write down the positive events of each day is also effective. Most of the time we tend to remember the bad things, so you need to write down the happy and positive experiences. For each day, also write down two or three things that you are really grateful for that day.

Stress management is a really broad concept and learning to think differently, change your approach and handle stressful situations calmly is a long run. But the saying that patience brings roses is also true here.

The corporate psychologist addresses both personal and professional issues.

Do clients also contact you with the problem of overthinking? How can we work with this overthinking so that it is not a nuisance?

Yes, this is also a problem that clients solve. I recommend focusing on how you think about certain situations in the first place.

Does it take you a long time to decide? Do you repeat the same thing over and over again? Do you keep going back to what you couldn't control?

If you find yourself overthinking things and spinning in circles, try to distract yourself with an activity such as exercise, a board game, a puzzle, simply something to keep your mind off things. It also helps to put your thoughts down on paper - it's easier to find your way around and organise them. Mindfulness has also been a very popular technique recently - give it a try.

Do you offer in-company training opportunities? For example, on the just mentioned stress management for all employees of the company? Is it possible to order such training with you?

We offer a wide range of additional services to companies. We raise awareness of various issues among employees, either in written form or by offering various webinars and even training. It's always a matter of individual agreement.

We regularly prepare reports for companies on the problems that occur most frequently with their employees (anonymously, of course, the names of specific employees or other data are not provided to the company) and on the basis of this we suggest possible preventive actions.

Basically, we do not resist anything and we are able to provide such training to companies if they are interested.

If a company decides to use a corporate psychologist from your company, what is the approximate budget to prepare?

I am unable to give a specific price. Each company will receive an individual quotation from us if interested. This is influenced by several factors - the number of employees in the company, whether the company wishes to consult only in Czech, Slovak or other languages (German, English, Polish, Spanish).

It also depends on whether the company provides employees with an unlimited number of consultations, or only a few, and whether the employee pays for the consultations himself or herself or with the employer's co-payment if necessary beyond the benefit.

The company then pays a regular monthly fee for managing the company profile and administration. This fee includes both the setup and software modifications of the company background, as well as all internal promotion and materials, regular information materials for employees, a regular magazine on current topics of 40-50 pages - in Czech, English and Slovak, which is prepared by our own editorial team together with psychologists, telephone support 365 days a year, reports and much more.

In addition to this fee, the company then pays only the price of the actual consultation. The amounts are really not very high, but again, it is necessary to keep in mind that not all employees will actually use the consultations.