The DPSM Social Rehabilitation Unit

It is a unit established to support the process of employee empowerment through promoting mental health education, counselling and other information services to the workforce. Its main duty is to offer workplace counselling. The modern workplace seems to demand more employee time than ever before, there are fewer resources with which to do the work and more and more employees are suffering from “presenteeism” (needing to be seen to be at work while overstressed doing the job). Levels of stress seem to be high   all the time. In the US there has been an increase of 5-15 per cent in compensation claims for work related stress, and in Australia it is reckoned that 35 per cent of the cost of compensation pay-outs to government employees followed stress claims (Labour Research Department, 1994).  In England a National Opinion Poll in the (Daily Telegraph of 11, September 1995) reported that a third of workers feel so insecure in their jobs that they are afraid to  take time off sick, 70 percent feel more in jeopardy than they did two years ago, and 44% per cent are afraid to criticize their bosses. A more recent report in the Sunday Telegraph, London 1999 narrates a story, that, employers in the UK now face industrial claims for mental and psychological damage to their workers. As employees struggle to cope, more and more employers, as well as health experts, are struggling to find new ways of managing workplace stress and its inevitable implications.  DPSM as the main employer for the Public service in Botswana guarded against all these claims by establishing the Social Rehabilitation Office to address the problem of workplace stress related sicknesses.

Sometimes people’s ailments do not need medical attention but just someone who can listen to their grievances, hence counselling would provide for that. Hence the establishment of Social Rehabilitation office in DPSM to intervene by coming up with different strategies to deal with workplace stress. Workplace Counselling is the key issue in this regard.

Statistics on media shows us daily on how stressful the workplace has become Newton 1995 remarks wryly:  “Copy on stress would seem to be located in almost every editor’s filing cabinet”. Stories abound about “twice the work in half the time”, about ‘downsizing’ (or rightsizing if we may give it a positive bent), about ‘flatter’ organisations, about massive redundancy and what happens to survivors of redundancy. There is evidence that the changes in organisations put extra stress on those employees who remain and that employers are becoming worried by the legal implications. The study on Mental illnesses in the workplace by Cartwright and Cooper (1994) came up with these findings: 

• One in five of the working population suffers from mental illness each year( approximately 6 million people).

• Some 90 working days are lost each year as a result of mental illness.

• When asked about the true reasons for absence from work, over half the employers felt that emotional/ personal problems and stress were to blame.

• Between 30 and 40 percent of all sickness from work involves some form of mental illness or emotional stress.

• Alcohol abuse is estimated by Alcohol Concern to cost about 2 billion pounds per annum, with the cost of industry being put at 1billion pound.

• Approximately 20 per cent of any workforce are affected by personal problems that impact on their work performance.

There are several reasons why employers should be involved in the physical and mental well-being of employees. One, it makes sense to have a healthy and high performing workforce. Not only does it create happier individuals who provide quality service, but it contributes to overall profits. Combining care for employees with the drive for profit ensures that both objectives can be met. As it has been alluded to earlier on there, It is not far for Botswana to experience an increase in the number of employees making stress-related claims against employers.

What is DPSM as the employer doing to face the effects of mental illness/stress/physical illness in the workplace? More employers are providing facilities to help employees increase their level of physical fitness and reduce instances of physical illness. These may either be in-house facilities or the use of other facilities in the locality. DPSM for a start has opted for an in-house facility by establishing the Social Rehabilitation Unit to provide the Counselling facilities for employees. This includes Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) with a variety of provision, including personal, information and advise giving, HIV/AIDS in the workplace. Health education will be organised. Workshops, short training, alcohol awareness, stop smoking campaigns, stress management, taking care of your heart HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention. All these are ways of helping employees to manage their physical and mental well-being.

Counselling can be seen as a way of improving mental health. Employees do not leave their problems behind as they turn to face their working day. They need some support and an understanding employer that would help them cope with their problems as well as rendering quality service. Egan, (1994) has noted the financial cost to organisations of psychological and social problems, lists the kind of everyday problems that can be costly to the organisation: a poor relationship between two key members of the production team, a middle manager who is becoming dependent on alcohol, a high-level manager who is distracted by an impending divorce who loses a significant account, a secretary grieving for a dead relative who mislays an important letter. When these individual problems (and when are they not the order of the day?) are seen in the context of a large workforce, and when they go unnoticed and undealt with, then, collectively, the cost may be immeasurable.

Counselling  also highlights the value of people as organisational assets. More and more employers are becoming aware that people are truly their best assets. Most have said it for years ; perhaps the are beginning to believe what  they have inscribed in their mission statements. Pfeffer’s (1994) research into successful organisation shows clearly that the most important ingredients was the way they cared for their emlpoyees. The direct link between care for staff and the drive for success and/or profit is a major factor in convincing employers to install counselling services as a further way of managing their workforce constructively.

Counselling services within the workplace should not only be viewed just as ‘crisis’  points or for severely disturbed individuals, but also as a preventative service. Most employers express production at the expense of the producer A whole approach need to be adopted towards employees: that physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being go together and that people need to be worked with as people. Emphasising one element is not enough. Counselling provision is part of that overall package, where it is accepted that individuals need professional counselling help at stages of their lives and that for the majority this is a worthwhile venture that enables them to deal with transitions and crisis.

Overall, counselling can be cost effective. Although it is difficult to ascertain what financial investments are made and what money is saved, it is possible to work out the economic cost to industry if the mental health of individuals is not sustained. We know the cost to industry of alcohol, of absenteeism, of stress: we have never costed the effects  of  depression or broken relationships, never mind the day-by-day emotional and mental problems faced by most individuals.

Counselling can itself be a source of organisational change. Rather than being just an appendage to a company, counselling can bring the values, energy of change, the vitality of acceptance, a realisation of who we are and what we can be, to the very dynamics of workplace life. Counselling values are about the importance and process of change, how people are empowered to manage their lives, how social responsibility is built into life, and how decisions can be made. Counselling can influence the organisational culture  to work towards the ideal strong and adaptive culture that serves the company.

These are some of the reasons why employers introduce counselling into the workplace. Cooper in Magnus, 1995) has divided the reasons into three categories: according to his research, 765 of employers see counselling as a caring facility; 70%expect counselling to help employees deal with workplace change; and 57% view counselling as a means of managing stress. Workplace counselling makes sense when it is realised that employees spend about one quarter of their time in work settings; that; for many, key relationships are part of their work; that personal identity is often bound up with jobs; and that almost all people integrate personal and professional lives to a great extent. Having counselling available in the workplace means that problems can be dealt with fairly quickly and can be worked through in the very environment from which they often emerge.

Statistics all over the world bombard us daily on how stressful the workplace has become. Stories about twice the work in half the time (workload), unrealistic work targets, lack of communication and consultation, too many meetings, lack of promotion and career development, down sizing (right sizing if we may give it a positive bent). Directorate of Public Service Management as the main employer for the public service is not spared from all this. There is a great concern about poor service delivery by public service because most of the reforms engaged in this sector stress more on productivity at the expense of the wellbeing of employees. Therefore this Unit was established to develop Employee Assistance Programs for the Botswana Public Service and to ensure provision of Counseling Services and motivational strategies to reduce the impact of stress on employees. It should be realized that employees do not leave their problems behind as they sit down for another working day rehabilitation. Strategies that could motivate employees to still be productive given their circumstances, be it social, workplace and otherwise should be put in place to sustain the employees. Hence the establishment of Social Rehabilitation Unit.

The workplace needs that give rise to Employee Assistance programs are in fourfold 

1. To do more about problems in the workplace.

2. To act upon the realization that the workplace is a human problem breeder and a problem-solver

3. To humanize the workplace.

4. To develop new work practices based on the awareness that areas in the workplace are interrelated i.e. health, wholeness, work relationships etc.

To install systems to monitor absenteeism, alcoholism mortality rate in the public service

To have an informed and equipped Public Service to deal with the stressful conditions in the workplace.

To realize increased productivity

To have a healthy workforce

To give assistance to employees who are in need.

To establish a sound workplace counseling in the public service.

In another effort to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in the Public Service and to address employees’ psychosocial and personal problems in the workplace so that they can deliver, DPSM is in process of developing a Public Service Counseling Policy. Counseling units will be established in all ministries and departments. Currently an expert to assist in the development of the policy is being sorted from the commonwealth Fund Technical committee and to its implementation. A project memorandum has been drafted and in circulation.

1.      Advisory committee on HIV/AIDS prevention in the workplace. 

• To provide a forum for key government, non-government and parastatal agencies to deliberate on HIV/AIDS problems.

• To offer advise on the formulation and implementation of workplace programs.

The committee also encourages employers to play an active role in HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs.

2.      National Aids Council- Labour Sub Sector Committee

It is made up of government, NGOs, disciplined forces, parastatals and private organizations. It coordinates the HIV/AIDS response in the labour sector and reports to the National Aids Council. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs chairs it.

3.      National Coordinating Committee on Disability

The committee coordinates activities of people with disabilities and works closely with the Botswana Counsel for the Disabled. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health chairs the committee.

4.    Task Force on proposed occupational stress survey for Botswana Central             Government Employees.

The Occupational Health Unit intends to conduct a survey on occupational stress for Botswana central government employees. The study is still in process.

5.      Botswana Public Officers Medical Aid Scheme

The Social Rehabilitation officer is an alternate member of BPOMAS.

6.      DPSM HIV/AIDS Committee

The main purpose of the committee is to coordinate the HIV/AIDS activities in the Directorate.