Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to ascertain the problems and counselling needs of workers for occupational adjustment in industries with a view to recommending ways of averting these problems and meeting these needs through counselling services. The study was guided by four research questions and three null hypotheses. Review of literature focused on the theoretical framework of the study, the problems and counseling needs of workers and industrial counseling. The study was carried out in three selected industries in Enugu State namely Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Bottling Company and Innoson technical and industrial company. The population of the study was 1834. Out of the above population, a simple of 370 workers was studied. The instrument used for the collection of data was a questionnaire titled Industrial Workers Problems and Counselling Needs Questionnaire (IWPCNQ). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviations while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at .05 level of significance. The major findings of the study are that industrial workers in Enugu State have many problems, social counselling needs, educational counselling needs, and vocational counselling needs such as exposure to hazards, lack of free medical care and long working hours among others. Social counseling needs such as getting along well with work mates, expressing one’s self well in discussion especially in public, adjusting to problems arising from work mates among others. Educational counseling needs include pursuing further academic programs that will be of benefit to them, studying more effectively and improving their memory among others and vocational counseling needs such as being acquainted with current information in the place of work, getting informed of work security and job satisfaction among others. These problems and counselling needs were found through research to constitute major problems areas which affect workers productivity and output. It was also found out that these problems and needs militate against workers productivity and occupational adjustment of the workers. Finally, it was discovered that applying counseling services will go a long way in averting the problems and handling the needs of workers. The educational implications of the findings were highlighted such as increasing the content areas of counselling education to take care of industrial counseling and organizing vocational counseling on regular basis for the workers. The major limitation of the study was outlined and suggestions for further studies made.
