THE IMPORTANCE OF COUNSELLING .J.K. Ogunkilede Introduction The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of counselling in the work place as a way of maximizing human resources. The main reason why counselling is important in the work place might be considered a selfish one. Employers are interested in the productivity and performance of their staff. They are in business to produce: they have tight deadlines to be met and few staff members with which to meet them. If employees are unhappy, anxious, or stressed they will not be able to perform well on their jobs. Their productivity and performance will go down. In addition, their interpersonal relations both at home and on the job may suffer more even when they ordinarily do not have interpersonal relations’ issues. This creates stress and again impacts on their performance.