You've just had a row with your boss or a fellow worker and you want to let off steam, so who do you turn to? There are your colleagues, but suppose discretion is required.
Nyasha Poe would argue that such a situation is tailor-made for her company, friendly-ear.com. Carrying a steaming kettle as its logo, Britain's first online corporate counselling service was launched last month. In an increasingly time-starved society, friendly-ear offers immediate advice from qualified counsellors through email or on the phone.
No prizes for guessing that online therapy was pioneered in America. Last year, there were 200 websites devoted to mental health issues and about 350 individual therapists on the web. The premise is that online therapy can rake in the bucks in a society notoriously in a rush - at least in the world of upwardly mobile professionals. Be that as it may, the proliferation of online therapy in the US has thrown up a host of regulatory and ethical concerns. Virtually all the American sites are unregulated, many are unlicensed, so consumers may be at the mercy of fly-by-night therapists.
Mindful of such concerns, some online therapists under the umbrella organisation of the internet healthcare coalition have crafted voluntary guidelines known as the eHealth code of ethics. The rules ask sites to disclose financial ties or their commercial sponsors to give accurate and well-supported information, while safe guarding privacy and confidentiality.
Anticipating those kinds of issues, Poe insists that her team of therapists, employed on a freelance basis, belong to the British Association of Counselling. Most have been trained at the Tavistock British Association of Psychoanalysis. Poe, who is of Zimbabwean origin, was nominated as business woman of the year in 1998. Before launching a career as an internet entrepreneur, she founded a fostering agency called Banya that placed difficult children for local authorities. She has now left Banya in the hands of her partner to concentrate on friendly-ear, so she has a chance of working directly with people again. Poe tries to spend a couple of hours online a few mornings a week, although her main focus will be to get the business up and running.
Poe's idea for friendly-ear came from her "quite lonely" experience as a businesswoman. "Sometimes family members are not the best people to encourage you, and sometimes it's hard to talk to your partner about such matters," says Poe.
She believes the anonymous nature of email can entice people into greater openness than if they were in face-to-face situations. "It's a bit like confession. I think anonymity is a strength rather than a weakness."
Anonymity is a hotly debated issue in the US, with some psychologists highly critical of the inability of therapists to interact properly with clients in cyberspace. They argue that patients are short-changed if the therapist cannot read the body language that can reveal so much. Poe admits that over the phone or by email, the therapist has to read between the lines. On the plus side, besides the notion that people will tend to be more upfront on the phone or via email, she cites the convenience factor. Workers do not have to leave their desks to receive advice and the service would be available 24 hours a day.
The site already has had positive feedback from customers such as Peter Davids, senior partner in an accountancy firm, who said: "We can't quantify the benefits of using friendly-ear in monetary terms, but we have seen tangible benefits to our performance in the business and have increased profits."
Poe plans to make her pitch to City firms where stress and burnout are high - and of course, where the big money is. The plan is to win contracts with City firms that will offer friendly-ear's services to its employees as part of the overall package. The fees friendly-ear charges will depend on the number of employees the firm has.
She will argue to the human resources department - who will be her ultimate employer - that her company can help boost productivity by reducing stress, sick days, absenteeism or 'duvet days'. Poe believes that a company like hers will find a niche as employees are more likely to turn to an outside agency than risk the stigma of going to human resources, because it is seen as an extension of management.
But it is debatable whether City firms really do care about high turnover and burnout since they seem to be essential features of life in the fast lane. Despite all the government talk of productivity loss from sick days and stress, do City firms really give a fig about employees who cannot hack the macho culture?
In offering a 24-hour ser vice, friendly-ear may also be biting off more than it can chew. Although Poe can call on some 60 freelance counsellors, some of the big firms may prove too taxing for a fledgling company like friendly-ear.
Still, Poe is confident of the soundness of her concept. She argues that employees will want to talk about issues that are bothering them, such as bullying - apparently an extremely common workplace problem.
She in adamant that firms will want to offers the services friendly-com provides as one of the perks offered to potential employees.
"With low unemployment, firms need to finds ways to retain people beyond just offering the gym. They have to include staff support such as coaching and therapy," Poe says.
"Companies have to take a holistic view of their employees. You turn up at the office as a person, not just a worker, with home and personal problems."
