BASIC Information
ABOUT THE PROVIDER
How long has your company been in existence?
Since 1987
How many employees do you have and how many of these work on a freelance basis and how many are permanently employed?
54 permanent employees
Additionally:
Cooperation contracts with:
- 4 law firms
- 1223 psychotherapists and psychologists
- Germany: 287
- Switzerland: 153
- France: 684
- Luxembourg: 16
- Italy: 47
- Austria: 36
How many companies use your services and how many employees do they have?
Approx 950 companies with up to 700,000 employees
(July 2022)
At which locations are your counselors active?
Germany:
- Psychologists at support center in Zurich/Wallisellen
- Lawyers in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Psychotherapists all over Germany
Switzerland:
- Psychologists and lawyers at support center in Zurich/Wallisellen
- Psychotherapists all over Switzerland
France:
- Psychologists at support center in Zurich/Wallisellen
- Lawyers all over France
- Psychotherapists all over France
Luxembourg:
- Psychologists at support center in Zurich/Wallisellen
- Lawyers in Luxembourg
- Psychotherapists all over Luxembourg
Italy:
- Psychologists at support center in Zurich/Wallisellen
- Lawyers in Milan
- Psychotherapists all over Italy
Austria:
- Psychologists at support center in Zurich/Wallisellen
- Lawyers in Dornbirn
- Psychotherapists all over Austria
Do you have a quality management system in place? If yes, do you have a specific certificate for this?
Yes.
- ISO9001 Quality Management System
- GoodPriv@cy Data Protection Certificate according to GDPR standard
Our IT infrastructure has alsobeen certified according to:
- ISO9001 Quality Management System2
- ISO27001 IT/Information Security
- GDPR Conformity Certificate
Can you provide references?
Yes. We are happy to provide you with contact information for our references after meeting with you in person.
FROM THE
COUNSELING PRACTICE
Can you describe two or three typical employee counseling 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/Behavioral 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?
Counseling 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.
What is the maximum duration of a consultation?
Durations can vary. A consultation can take 30 minutes, but we may also accompany clients who are in difficult living situations over several months.
How do you ensure that your telephone hotline is always staffed?
We have a work plan in place and practice calculated overstaffing. Stand-ins are also available on-call.
Two redundant separate telephone systems additionally secure technical availability.
Do you have a supply management system? If yes, how exactly does it work? Is a process in place?
Yes. We and/or our psychotherapists provide continuous support for our clients.
Yes, as an ISO9001-certified provider, a respective process is in place for each work process.
How do you proceed if the counseling session has ended but your client still requires further care?
Our counseling services continue as long as clients require support.
Do you have a systematic complaints management? 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 support center is staffed with experienced psychologists 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 psychologists and/or psychotherapists 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?
Data protection envisages the following exceptions to the professional secrecy:
- 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 customer 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 anonymized so that 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 counselors?
Psychologists:
- Psychology degree
- Multiple years of professional experience
- Further training in psychotherapy or psychological counseling
Lawyers Germany:
- Admission to the bar at the local bar association
- Specialized lawyer title in labor law, tenancy law, matrimonial and family law, etc. according to the German Legal Services Act from 07/01/2008
Lawyers Switzerland:
- Law degree
- Completed further training in various legal fields
Do you also work with freelancers? If yes, how do you ensure their quality?
Yes, we work with psychotherapists in our nationwide networks.
Psychological psychotherapists (Germany) and psychotherapists (Switzerland) have to meet the following criteria:
- Mandatory membership in professional association
- Practice license
- Obligatory supervision
- Compliance with our quality standards
- Quality control through anonymous client evaluation
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?
Our further training concept includes 6-8 internal further training sessions per year. Additionally, each employee has access to an annual budget for external further training.
Our employees in the support center are also obligated to participate in internal and external supervision.
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 Federal Data Protection Act? Have you implemented a respective process?
We are continually under internal and external audit due to our worldwide recognized data protection certification GoodPriv@cy according to GDPR standard. Legal compliance is ensured on account of this certification.
Our data protection manager ensures strict compliance with applicable laws, consistently stays up to date with respect to legislative
changes and performs adjustments if necessary.
COOPERATION OUTLOOK
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 visit you in order to get an impression of your work?
Yes, of course. We would be happy to meet with you in person.
However, we want to point out that access to the support center is prohibited due to data protection stipulations.
We are presently aware of two persons within the company who are struggling with very personal problems. Can they try out your services so that we can get an impression of how it all works?
Yes. We will include the cases in the contract upon contract conclusion or invoice them according to expenditure if a contract is not concluded.