Assessing psychosocial skills among managers in French subsidiaries

Latest news: A training course dedicated to developing psychosocial skills is being offered in partnership between Atelier Canopé 12 in Rodez, a French education resource center, and the Aveyron Departmental Service for Youth, Engagement and Sports. Intended for education professionals who support young people, it highlights the importance of these skills for well-being and inclusion. This kind of initiative raises questions about the place of psychosocial skills in professional practice and their role in educational dynamics. (Réseau Canopé, September 29, 2026).

To choose a useful approach to psychosocial skills, start by distinguishing the abilities you want to support from the constraints of the role. The WHO defines ten psychosocial skills, including stress management, effective communication and problem-solving, according to Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). For a manager in a subsidiary, the challenge is to connect these skills to work situations without turning the assessment into a simple individual score.

My answer in brief

The most useful starting point is to clarify what you want to understand: the skills being used by managers, the constraints they face, or both. A checklist alone is not enough to choose a relevant course of action. Link each skill to real work situations, then decide whether self-assessment, discussion or a practical exercise best serves your objective.

For a subsidiary, choosing HR support also means considering the relationship between head office and local teams. The aim is for the process to lead to options that can be applied in your context, rather than to a general set of observations.

Which psychosocial skills are assessed in managers at French subsidiaries?

The skills to consider are the ten psychosocial skills defined by the WHO: problem-solving, decision-making, creative and critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, empathy, stress management and managing emotions, according to Inserm.

Santé publique France, France’s national public health agency, groups them into cognitive, emotional and social dimensions, and links them to psychological well-being and relationships with oneself and others in its overview of psychosocial skills. This classification can help structure your thinking, but it is not, by itself, a job assessment framework.

For a manager, it is more useful to translate the skills into situations to examine. For example, you might look at decision-making during a trade-off or communication in a difficult discussion. These examples can help you design your approach, but they do not establish a universal scoring system. The key is to connect each question to clear professional expectations.

Why assess these skills in managers working in a subsidiary context?

An assessment is relevant if it helps you make better choices about what to do, while taking into account the working conditions that call on managers’ skills.

The INRS, France’s occupational health and safety institute, describes emotional demands as the need to control, hide or simulate emotions. They are found in particular in service roles involving contact with the public, suffering or human distress. They can also arise in other sectors where company culture requires complete self-control according to the INRS. It is therefore useful to examine job demands alongside individual skills.

The same INRS page lists work pace, unrealistic or unclear objectives, contradictory instructions, long working days and atypical hours among the risk factors in its overview of psychosocial risk factors. To avoid reducing the process to a judgment about individuals, include these work constraints in the analysis too.

Preventing psychosocial risks can involve several people within a company. Assurance Maladie, France’s national health insurance system, names company directors, human resources managers and employee representatives among those who can take part in prevention efforts in its overview of the prevention process. Bringing these roles into dialogue is one way to connect observations with decisions.

How does an in-person psychosocial skills assessment work?

An in-person assessment can use practical exercises if you want to examine behavior in context. A study of an assessment center describes professional simulations in the form of role plays, group discussions and presentations, scored by trained assessors in this research.

A French study involving 125 officers reports that professionals and psychologists took part in their assessment, and that the assessors were trained in behavioral rating scales, rating errors and a shared framework in this publication. This example shows the value of defining the behaviors to observe and agreeing on criteria among assessors. It does not establish a single protocol for all companies.

To design your session, choose situations relevant to the roles of the managers concerned, then explain the observation criteria before the exercises. The debrief can then connect what was observed with the skills being assessed and possible development options. Avoid drawing a general conclusion from a single exercise.

Which tools can measure how managers adapt to local requirements?

The most useful tools connect the skills being assessed to work situations and constraints. For example, a framework can link each skill to observable behaviors and the contexts in which they are expected. It should be concrete enough to inform a training or management decision.

For a subsidiary, the brief for HR support can also include advice on strategy, compensation policy, culture and local legal and cultural adaptation, as well as a local HR contact. Christine Martin’s page describes a bilingual outsourced HR service that connects head office with subsidiaries in its service overview. Bilingual support and this liaison role are practical criteria to consider when you need to bring the needs of head office and the subsidiary together.

When choosing your tools, start with the question you need to answer: do you need to better understand behaviors, job constraints or support needs? This distinction can help you avoid questionnaires that produce results that are difficult to turn into action.

What distinguishes a local assessment from a remote evaluation?

The right format depends on what you want to examine. In-person sessions work well for exercises where direct observation of interactions matters. Remote sessions may be a simpler option for framing an approach or talking with participants who are far apart. The evaluation objectives, not the format alone, should guide the decision.

To monitor a broader issue, an indicator such as absenteeism can offer insight, but it cannot by itself identify which skills to develop. In 2026, PasseportSanté describes company health insurance plans that combine screening, mental health and physical activity as measures taken before reimbursement, which can affect absenteeism in its article on company health insurance plans. For a skills assessment, supplement general indicators with criteria linked to the behaviors and work situations you want to understand.

Christine Martin’s website says the HR service can be delivered on site or remotely, with travel offered in France and internationally, and a tailored quote in the service overview. These are useful points to consider when choosing a format suited to your subsidiary’s organization and budget.

When is an in-person assessment not suitable?

You do not need to start in person if your first objective is to take stock of the skills to develop. Self-assessment can then serve as a first step, as long as you do not confuse it with observing behavior in a real situation.

Santé publique France offers a self-assessment grid that invites people to rate themselves from 0 to 5 on what they know and how they use different psychosocial skills in its grid. It can help open up discussion. If your question concerns how a manager acts in an interaction, choose a format that lets you examine that situation rather than relying only on self-assessment.

Remote sessions can also work when the priority is bringing together participants who are not in the same place. In that case, keep the objective clear and the questions focused. That is the best way to make the discussion useful without claiming to observe what the format cannot show.

How can psychosocial skills be strengthened after the assessment?

After the assessment, choose workshops based on the skills you want to develop, then connect the exercises to the relevant work situations.

Programs to develop psychosocial skills can include workshops on emotional regulation and nonviolent communication, led by trainers according to a profile published by Santé Magazine. You can also build exercises around cooperation or stress management, based on the needs identified through your process.

To make these workshops relevant to participants’ work, have them practice with situations related to their roles, then set aside time to discuss what they would like to try in their day-to-day work. The choice of format should match the objectives. A workshop does not need to cover every skill at once.

For HR support, the service is available on a project basis or on an ongoing basis, with the client choosing the number of hours or days according to the service overview. The website also describes annual or monthly subscriptions, as well as a pay-as-you-go option in its description of the arrangements. These options make it possible to compare a one-off need with ongoing support.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 10 psychosocial skills?

The WHO defines ten psychosocial skills: problem-solving, decision-making, creative and critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, empathy, stress management and managing emotions, according to Inserm.

What are the 3 categories of psychosocial skills?

Santé publique France groups them into cognitive, emotional and social dimensions in its overview of psychosocial skills.

What are the 10 psychosocial skills defined by the WHO?

The list includes problem-solving, decision-making, creative and critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, empathy, stress management and managing emotions, according to Inserm.

What I take away

To assess the psychosocial skills of managers in a subsidiary, connect the abilities you want to develop with work situations and the constraints of the role. Then choose a format based on what you want to understand: self-assessment to start the discussion, or practical exercises when observing behavior is necessary.

Above all, the assessment should lead to practical options. To identify them, involve the people concerned, make room for HR advice and tailor the workshops to the needs identified. This makes the process a decision-making tool rather than a simple scoring exercise.