BASIC Information
ABOUT THE PROVIDER
How long has your company been in existence?
Since 1987
How many companies use your services and how many employees do they have?
2000 companies with a total of 4.5 million employees
(Status 31/12/2019)
At which locations are your counsellors active?
We deliver through our network of 43 regional offices and various strategic partners, covering over 185 countries
Can you provide references?
Yes. We are happy to supply you with contact information for our references once we have understood the needs of your organisation and submitted a formal proposal for your consideration.
FROM THE
COUNSELING PRACTICE
Can you describe two or three typical employee counselling cases from your everyday work life?
The most common occupational topics are:
- Employees complaining about work overload while often already exhibiting symptoms such as demotivation, insomnia, irritation, physical ailments, etc.
- Workplace conflicts with colleagues and superiors are frequent and also very burdensome for employees.
- Superiors and human resource managers contact us with increasing frequency because they are worried about certain employees, for example on account of:
- conspicuous behavior/Behavioural changes
- severe weight gain or loss
- suspected drinking problem
- We advise callers in these cases on how to talk with these employees in a personal meeting and discuss what assistance can be provided and which requirements imposed.
The most frequent private problems include:
- relationship problems, conflicts and separations
Which cases are the most difficult for you?
Counselling can be difficult if clients do not contact us of their own volition or if clients do not realize their problem.
Although we are fully capable of dealing with suicidal cases due to our many years of experience, tested processes and close cooperation, cases such as these are very challenging for our counselors.
Do you have a systematic complaints management process? If yes, can you describe it?
Yes. Our data privacy officer and quality manager as well as management are informed about every complaint and then manage the
respective process. A share of less than 0.1% of complaints per case is the target agreement for employees.
How do you deal with acute emergencies such as a suicidal person calling in the middle of the night?
Our Helpline is staffed with experienced counsellors 24/7 on 365 days a year. Proven life-saving processes are in place in case of endangerment.
What can we expect from you if such a case or another event occurs at our location?
Upon request, we will send counsellors and/or psychologists to your location. Our specialists have many years of experience
and further training in emergency psychology, trauma intervention, violence prevention, etc.
What do you do if you learn that a crime has been committed in a company?
Professional industry guidelines provide for the following exception to standard confidentiality:
- danger to life and limb (threat of murder and bodily injury, self-endangerment, terrorism)
By law, we are not allowed to inform our customer companies in case of theft, fraud, embezzlement, etc. However, our counselors will discuss such matters with our clients and emphasize the importance of reporting this information to the company as we support our clients in taking the next steps.
How do you document your work?
Every sponsoring company receives an anonymous half-year and/or annual report. The number of cases, utilized services and reported topics (divided into work-related and private) are listed. The report contains in-depth analyses, benchmark comparisons and suggestions for measures if necessary.
The reports are anonymised so that individual callers cannot be identified. Reports are only created for companies with more than 100 employees in order to protect the caller’s identity.
COUNSELOR
QUALIFICATION
What are the minimum requirements for your counsellors?
Counsellors:
- Masters Degree in psychology or allied discipline
- Multiple years of professional experience
- Further training in psychotherapy or psychological counseling
Do you also work with sub-contractors? If yes, how do you ensure their quality?
Yes, we work with qualified affiliate counselling professionals in our nationwide networks.
All affiliates are required to adhere to the same standards as ICAS in-house teams.
Which measures for quality assurance are in place?
We are certified in quality management according to ISO9001 and are under continuous internal and external audit.
Our quality manager ensures strict compliance with our high quality standards.
Which measures for further training of your employees are in place?
Ongoing Continuous Professional development (CPD) is an industry-standard requirement to which all of our counsellors adhere.
DATA PROTECTION COMPLIANCE
How and where do you save personal data of our employees?
We use a customized database solution that fulfills all safety-relevant specifications. Cases are recorded anonymously; i.e. we do not save any personal data.
Any telephone numbers or e-mail addresses that may be required for scheduling personal counseling sessions with a psychotherapist are deleted upon conclusion of the case.
How do you ensure compliance with the Data Protection Regulations
All data handling is carried out with strict adherence to prevailing regulations and periodic reviews are undertaken to ensure that practices remain valid.
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
Will we have key account managers if we decide to work together?
Yes. Our key account managers are experienced business economists. Your personal account manager will be available to you for all administrative matters.
Can we meet with your team?
We are always keen to meet our customers in person and will be pleased to arrange a meeting to discuss our proposals and to offer an insight from our counsellors into the approach that we take to providing support.
Can we test the service before committing to a long-term contract?
Yes. we will be pleased to arrange for your representative to make a limited number of test calls to our Helpline.
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