THE ROLE OF STAFF COUNSELING IN PROMOTING WORK ENGAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY
A CASE OF KABARAK UNIVERSITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58216/kjri.v3i1.14Keywords:
taff counseling, productivity, engagement, attritionAbstract
Significant shifts in the global economy have accelerated the need for organizations to find innovative ways to address new technological, demographic and marketplace realities. These shifts have also forced institutions of higher learning in Kenya to reevaluate costs associated with talent, necessitating a need to maximize productivity with minimal work force. At Kabarak University, employees are expected to be proactive, show initiative, take responsibility for their own professional development and to be committed to high quality performance standards. These expectations place high job demands on the staff and in so doing predispose them to burnout. However, there is no comprehensive staff counseling programs aimed at helping the human resource develop their positive psychological capital that would inoculate them from psychological indisposition and thus boost work engagement for higher output. This paper explores the role of counseling in promoting work engagement and increasing productivity at Kabarak University. The article theorizes that engagement, conceptualized as the investment of an individual’s complete self into a role, is a significant factor in job wellness and correlates positively with counseling. Mixed methods research was used to conduct the study. Secondary data was augmented with the participant observation data collection procedure. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis was done using SPSS 22. It was established that work engagement is a human resource concern that can be strengthened by staff counseling programs. The job specification for the professional counselors within the university precludes their active involvement with psychological welfare of staff. HRD researchers seeking to conduct original research in universities, and practitioners interested in creating greater levels of engagement in their organizations will find the discussion and implications sections valuable.
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