Need a character count in free text boxes to take away the 'guessing'

It is not suggested for one area of the system, but all areas. Currently there seems to be a very low character count for free text given it is a HR system. I feel the system would benefit from 2 things across all areas:

1. Increase character count in free text boxes

2. Have a character counter to show how many characters you have left rather than replying on the customer to guess or have to copy and paste into another tool such as Word to geta character count

I feel this would save so much frustration and make free text working more effective.