ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Phil Mullan suggested that new management trends would ‘come together to crystallise in the emergence of the therapeutic company with its emphasis on self-help and self-improvement, on the importance of how workers feel and the pursuit of emotional literacy’ (Mullan 2000: 9). In a remarkably short time since that prediction, the therapeutic company seems to be a reality. A survey undertaken in 2004 showed that 50 per cent of women and 38 per cent of men feel emotionally supported by their employer. Despite this, almost 1 in 2, some 45 per cent of the work force, would like confidential counselling or coaching from their employer (BACP/Future Foundation 2004: 24).
