Course sheet · 2027 catalogueSoft skills
Supporting an Employee in Difficulty
A half day to respond well when an employee is struggling or can no longer hold their post: a drop in performance, a personal difficulty, tension with the team, visible fatigue. Participants learn to spot the situation, prepare and hold a first conversation, agree on possible adjustments and refer to the right relays. This is not training in therapeutic listening: the manager stays within their role.
Duration0.5 day
Request a quoteObjectives
- Spot the signs that an employee is in difficulty and tell professional difficulty from personal difficulty
- Prepare and hold a respectful, confidential first listening conversation
- Agree with the employee on realistic temporary adjustments and follow-up
- Refer to the appropriate relays: human resources, occupational physician, social service where there is one
- Understand the limits of your role as manager and look after yourself
Programme
Half day
- Difficulty of skill, motivation, health or personal life: different responses
- The first conversation: place, timing, a factual and kindly opening, listening, phrases to avoid
- Possible adjustments: priorities, hours, tasks, help from a colleague, and their time limits
- The relay: who to refer to, how to suggest it, what stays confidential
- Role plays: opening conversation and follow-up conversation on cases brought by participants
Teaching methods
- Conversation role plays in threes: manager, employee, observer
- Anonymised cases brought by participants and typical cases: sudden drop in performance, repeated absences, an employee who withdraws
- Reference points on what the manager can, must and must not do
- A list of the company’s internal and external relays, prepared with human resources before the session
- A conversation and follow-up template given to each participant
Assessment and documents
Knowledge test and an observed conversation role play, post-training evaluation at D+1. Numbered certificate, verifiable online, for each participant; training report given to the company, with no mention of the individual cases discussed.
Bilingual materials for every participant; each classroom course comes with its digital twin on OmniLearn.
Frequently asked questions
Should the manager solve employees’ personal problems?
No. Their role is to notice, open the dialogue, adapt the work when possible and refer. The course draws this limit clearly, and it also protects the manager.
What should be done if an employee seems to be in danger?
The course gives a clear rule: do not keep the information to yourself, refer without delay to the occupational physician or emergency services, and inform human resources while respecting the person’s confidentiality.
How is this different from “Conducting a Corrective Meeting”?
A corrective conversation deals with a failing to be put right. Here the person’s difficulty comes first: the conversation seeks to understand and help. The two approaches can follow each other if the situation requires, but they are not mixed in the same conversation.
Can human resources take part?
Yes, and it is useful. Their presence allows the list of relays, existing schemes and the company’s confidentiality rules to be validated.
Practical information
- Duration
- 0.5 day
- Audience
- Managers, team leaders, supervisors and HR staff close to the shop floor
- Prerequisites
- Manage a team or support employees
- Group size
- Groups of 6 to 12 participants, in-company
- Format
- In-company, face to face on your site
- Language
- French, Darija or English; bilingual materials
- Funding
- OFPPT special training contracts (TFP), GIAC, Maroc PME: we prepare the applications with you, at no extra cost.
- Programme customisation
- Programme adapted to your procedures, your equipment and your audience
Organise this course
Price and dates on quote, depending on your headcount, your site and your preferred period.
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Book a call with a consultant or request an in-company session: we adapt the programme to your procedures and your audience.