Addiction guide for managers: conversations following a step-by-step plan

Managers are often the first to notice when something is wrong with someone: absences pile up, agreements fall through. Many then wait because they do not know what they are allowed to say. A step-by-step plan removes this uncertainty: it sets out when which conversation takes place, who attends and which help is offered at each step.

How is a step-by-step plan structured?

It starts with a welfare conversation: the manager says that they have noticed something and offers support. If work duties suffer, a clarifying conversation follows. Then come step conversations in which the consequences increase and a specific offer of help is made each time. The quality standards of the German Centre for Addiction Issues (DHS) on workplace addiction prevention provide guidance.

What do managers learn in the training?

Describe what you notice instead of interpreting it: “You were absent without notice three times in four weeks” instead of “You drink”. Make no diagnosis. Offer specific help, with the name and phone number of the counselling service. Record agreements. Practising these conversations helps most.

What does it take?

A written guide, agreed with HR and the works council, and a half-day training session. Addiction counselling services and providers in the marketplace offer training. The measure fits the rule from the best practice “Addiction prevention at work”: the rule says what applies; the guide says how to talk about it.