WORKLIFE GUIDANCE TOOLBOX
WORKPLACE COACHING / COUNSELLING (TYÖNOHJAUS IN FINland)
Workplace coaching means regular, process-based guidance and support for the evaluation of work, the identification of work-related problems, and the planning and execution of measures required to solve such problems. Workplace coaching is provided by an experienced professional who has been trained to work as a
workplace coach.
Workplace coaching is usually provided over a relatively long period of time (between 1 and 3 years) by an experienced professional in the same field who has been trained to work as a workplace coach. Workplace coaching is needed particularly in tasks that involve customer or patient relationships that are more demanding than average. Workplace coaching is an essential part of the learning and development process through which employees’ competence and self-understanding required for the performance and development of their tasks takes shape. Workplace coaching supports and complements other guidance activities in the organisation, contributing to a purposeful functioning of the workplace community and organisation, and to the development of a positive organisational culture.
In the health, social and welfare sector, workplace coaching is called clinical supervision, and in Finland, employees involved in demanding client work in fields such as mental health are usually entitled to clinical supervision paid by the employer. Even if issues related to career planning may be discussed during workplace coaching, a workplace coach is not a career counsellor, and the focus should be on the job at hand and the employee.
A workplace coach may represent the same organisation as the coachee, but not the same workplace community or team. The workplace coach usually comes from outside the organisation. In Finland, there are both full-time workplace coaches and those involved in part-time workplace coaching in addition to their day job. The educational background of workplace coaches varies considerably, and anybody who has completed a vocational degree may apply to study workplace coaching. Training is provided by both secondary and higher educational institutions, and the minimum extent of the studies is 60 ECTS.