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.
How do you put the measure in place?
- 1Write the step-by-step plan: a welfare conversation, a clarifying conversation, step conversations with increasing consequences and an offer of help at each step
- 2Agree it with HR and the works council where there is one
- 3Prepare managers in a half-day training session with practice conversations
- 4Store the guide and the counselling contacts where managers can find them
Plan, invite, measure participation: EasyWHP, which offers WHPCompass free of charge, sets this measure up as a project, invites the workforce and shows how many people take part. How a measure runs in EasyWHP →
What do you need for it?
- Effort
- half a day
- Cost
- with budget
- Duration
- 6 weeks
- Setup
- 360 min
- ✓ Managers know when and how to hold a conversation
- ✓ Each step has a clear offer of help and a clear consequence
- ✓ The same rules for everyone instead of gut decisions
- ✓ Takes the pressure off managers: specialists provide the counselling
Tax and health insurance: what is possible
Employer health benefits can be tax-free under § 3 no. 34 of the German Income Tax Act (EStG) up to €600 per employee per year — if they are provided in addition to the salary already owed and are either certified (§ 20 SGB V) or implemented within the company's health promotion process. Gym memberships and corporate fitness are not covered. For ZPP-certified courses (e.g. from Upfit), German statutory health insurers can reimburse all or part of the course fee to their insured members — then only the amount exceeding that reimbursement is tax-free. Projects within the company can be funded under § 20b SGB V, with no entitlement. Only your tax adviser can confirm the tax exemption.
Health insurance and tax: how to proceed →How it works in EasyWHP
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