Why empathy matters

Empathy helps employees to better understand the perspectives and needs of their clients and to build trust (Rübner/Weber 2021, Tountopoulou et al. 2019). Cognitive empathy in particular, i.e., the ability to take on another person's perspective, is a key competence (Batson et al. 2002, Cuff et al. 2016). It enables employees to put themselves in their clients' shoes without losing the necessary professional distance (Rübner/Weber 2021).

Affective empathy—sympathy—also plays an important role. It helps to defuse conflicts and perceive emotional stress (Batson & Ahmad 2009).

Empathy in integration and counseling sessions

A sustainable “working alliance” between employees and clients is based on respect, trust, and acceptance. Empathy is indispensable for this—it creates the basis for constructive and successful counseling sessions (Federal Employment Agency 2023, Rübner/Weber 2021).

Challenges in everyday counseling

Misunderstandings can quickly arise in conversations with people with a migration background – for example, due to language barriers or different understandings of work and education (Schubert et al. 2025). Taking on different perspectives is particularly important here.

At the same time, stress, high caseloads, or institutional requirements can make it difficult to act empathetically (Schubert et al. 2023, Wilkinson et al. 2017, House 1981).

Our approach

We know that job center employees already have a great deal of empathy. With our project, we want to strengthen this ability in a targeted manner. This will enable trusting counseling sessions to be conducted, mutual prejudices to be broken down, and the chances of successful labor market integration to be increased.