Dr Saad Dine El Otmani, Morocco’s former head of government and a practising psychiatrist, will be a guest of honour at the third Moroccan Employment and Skills Forum, taking place in Tangier on 13 and 14 November 2026. His keynote on mental health at work brings together two questions that run through his career. How can more people find a job? And what conditions help them settle into that job and build a career?
For the Tangier forum, it is an honour to welcome a figure who brings both the experience of leading a government and the clinical perspective of a psychiatrist. As head of Morocco’s government from 2017 to 2021, El Otmani dealt with issues that remain central to employment policy, including access to a first job for young people, how closely training matches employers’ needs and what encourages businesses to hire. His presence in Tangier gives the forum a chance to connect those policy choices with the day-to-day experience of people looking for work or starting a new job.
In May 2019, addressing Morocco’s House of Councillors, El Otmani placed employment among his government’s priorities. He presented the National Employment Promotion Plan through 2021, developed with regional authorities and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises. Among the measures he outlined was an expansion of the Tahfiz programme. It raised from five to ten the number of employees per eligible organisation for whom the state could cover certain tax and social security costs. The measure was aimed at newly established businesses, associations and cooperatives facing one of the most consequential decisions in their early years: when they could afford to hire their first team.
In Tangier, El Otmani will turn to what happens after someone is hired. In the first few weeks, a new employee is learning the job, adjusting to the pace and finding their place in a team. The quality of that experience depends on everyday decisions. Are instructions clear? Is enough time set aside for training? Does the employee know whom to ask for help? When a team faces sustained pressure, managers have practical choices about how to distribute the workload, clarify responsibilities and respond when someone raises a concern.
The forum is organised by Industrie du Maroc Magazine in partnership with Tangier’s Institute for Training in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (IFMEREE) and the Association for the Promotion of Education and Training Abroad (APEFE). The institute will host the event in Gueznaya under the theme “The Tangier–Tetouan–Al Hoceima Region Is Hiring.” Employers, recruiters, training providers and recent graduates will come together to discuss the transition from education to work, the skills companies are looking for and how artificial intelligence is changing jobs. The programme also includes workshops on human resources and employer branding.
In an industrial region such as Tangier–Tetouan–Al Hoceima, those discussions can answer immediate questions for a young person preparing for a first interview. What qualifications does a maintenance technician, production line operator or quality control specialist need? Which skills can someone gain through a programme that combines classroom study with work placements, and which will they learn during their first months on the factory floor? A direct conversation with a recruiter or training provider can clarify the route into an occupation and lead to an interview, a placement or further training.
El Otmani’s keynote brings employers’ role in that first work experience into the discussion. Once the contract is signed, a company’s ability to retain a young employee can depend on decisions as straightforward as giving them time to learn the job, reviewing an excessive workload or listening when they report a difficulty. For the employers gathering in Tangier, that makes workplace mental health part of a question that begins with recruitment and continues long after the first day on the job.
