There are many definitions of sustainable employability and much is also published about it by a variety of parties, all approaching the subject from their own interests and perspectives. Perhaps that’s why many employers can’t see the forest for the trees and get caught up in the tangle of hundreds of topics that can all be subsumed under the heading of sustainable employability.

According to TNO, the definition of sustainable employability is as follows: ‘Sustainable employability (DI) means that workers are not only employable here and now, but that they can and want to continue to work in the longer term.’

So really a catch-all term that incorporates many facets of HR. It is not only about health and vitality, but also about issues such as competence, reward, training, development and performance management. Also, the entry (recruitment) and exit phases have important interfaces with sustainable employability.

In practice, we continue to see a growing need for advice. We also recognize the struggle, as described above. We would like to share the experiences we have had in the meantime in this article. We describe a roadmap of the route to a widely supported sustainable employability policy using the principles of establishing strategic HR policies. And more importantly, by applying the principles of continuous improvement (Plan-Do-Check-Act), sustainable employability can be implemented as a continuous process in the organization. Our objective: to provide a concrete and pragmatic roadmap.

The roadmap

A good sustainable employability policy can lead to continuous improvement in the employability of employees and thus make a positive contribution to corporate goals. Sustainable employability is therefore of strategic importance and should be part of the strategic HR policy. To get here, the following steps are necessary.

Step 1: Analyze and define the need for sustainable employability

Why does an organization want a sustainable employability policy in the first place? Why is this necessary? How is the current policy designed? How does that compare to other organizations? The best way to demonstrate the need is to conduct an organizational analysis focused on sustainable employability. Several tools are available for this, such as the KOBA-DI tool from TNO or the Workability Index (WAI) from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH). A sustainable employability consultant can guide the organization through the various tools and provide implementation support. In this way, the management of the organization learns about the sustainable employability of its organization in a scientifically based manner. Also, the management of the organization knows what any areas of concern are and therefore where the focus should be placed. Sustainable employability is customized; there is no “plug and play” solution that can be used for every organization. The results of the analysis should be shared with all stakeholders of the organization, such as the Works Council, line management and the board of directors. In this way, broad support is created and sustainable employability is prevented from being limited to an HR party.

Step 2: Define vision, mission and strategy

After the need has become clear to all stakeholders involved, a shared vision can be formed, followed by a mission, policy and goals. Of course, these align with the strategic goals of the organization.

As indicated earlier, sustainable employability should not be limited to a matter of HR. Therefore, for sustainable employability to succeed, management must be willing to take a leading role in implementing integrated employability policies.

Step 3: Inventory resources

As stated in the introduction, sustainable employability is a catch-all term. It is actually the core task of HR, and it is not just about vitality and health; all other HR topics, such as competence management and performance management, also touch on sustainable employability.

What resources are already available?

A lot is often already being done in practice on sustainable employability, but far from always being subsumed under that heading. Often resources are not in sight, so they are not yet used.

For example, Development & Training Funds made available from the sectors. Also, collective bargaining agreements often have regulations and agreements that can be used, but are unknown to the employer and/or employee. So take stock of the resources already deployed and test whether they are sufficiently appropriate. These may include resources that:

• Available and already being applied:
  Are these appropriate? What do these resources provide?
• Available but not yet applied:
  Can these be applied? What are the expected costs and revenues?
• Not available, but where there is a need:
  What are the costs and revenues? Which providers provide these resources?

This inventory leads to a (future) provider arc of resources and suppliers that provide products and/or services that contribute to the sustainable employability policy.

Gap analysis and right skills

The implementation of the sustainable employability policy ultimately goes down the line because, as mentioned, sustainable employability is not an HR party. It involves the entire organization and the employee in particular. Employer and employee share responsibility for shaping sustainable employability.

In addition, teams within the organization will need to take responsibility for getting started with sustainable employability. It is up to the manager to facilitate this. The right leadership skills in (line) management should ensure that one is able to connect at the team level and share the corporate vision of employability.

To ensure that all internal stakeholders have the right knowledge and competencies, it is wise to conduct a gap analysis. With a gap analysis, the organization compares the existing situation with the desired situation and identifies the difference between the required and available resources, knowledge and competencies. Where necessary, employees are educated and/or trained.

Step 4: Prioritization

In practice, it proves impossible to take on all actions at once. Therefore, the advice is: start small and end big. Based on the analysis in Step 1, choices are made regarding priorities, actions and interventions. Consider a particular department or group of employees with certain characteristics (age, position, education level, competencies, family composition). An action plan is created on the basis of which implementation can take place.

Step 5: Implementation

Now that it has been determined where the priorities lie, the actions can be implemented. Sustainable employability is about people and their personal development within this framework. Therefore, the focus in this phase is on the individual who needs to be activated to get started with the focal points from the developed sustainable employability policy. The supervisor obviously has an important role in this.

What exactly is meant by personal development?

Before the employee can start working on his or her personal development to promote sustainable employability, a baseline measurement must first be taken. This baseline measurement provides a picture of the employee’s work ability. There are many different ways to determine an employee’s work ability. The “House of Work Capability” theory developed by Fin Ilmarinen is a widely used method for determining work capability.

Work ability is the degree to which a person can perform his or her current work both mentally and physically. Work capability of both an employee and an organization can be represented as a house. On the first floor, the basis is health (physical and mental). Above that we find the knowledge and skills. On the second floor, we find attitude and motivation. On the third floor, the work itself: the conditions, content of the work, job requirements and, of course, management and leadership.

The floors do not stand alone; they influence each other. And there are outside influences; such as work-life balance. And somewhat more distant but certainly influential are social and technological developments over which we have less control, such as aging, robotization and digitalization. All of these factors affect work ability. This also means that these factors can be managed.

Managing the factors creates personal development for the employee. Applying the principles of continuous improvement to the personal development of employees as well creates a personal development cycle (PDCA cycle). Ultimately, this leads to sustainable employability of the individual and ultimately the organization. In this, the following phases are distinguished.

1. Zero measurement through an employability scan at the individual level – it measures employees’ work capacity. Several tools are available for this purpose;
2. Employability profile – this follow from the baseline measurement;
3. Inventory and prioritize interventions to be deployed from the provider arc identified in Step 3;
4. Resources to be deployed – guidance from HR, supervisor, outside coaches or providers;
5. Impact measurement based on available data;
6. Evaluation, follow-up and adjustment of goals.

Applying the principles of continuous improvement here too (PDCA cycle) creates a development curve in the employee’s employability.

Step 6: Evaluation & development

Periodically it measures whether the predetermined goals are achieved and whether they are still in line with the organization’s strategic objective. The prerequisite is to determine in advance what the performance indicators are so that management reporting can be set up accordingly.

As mentioned in the introduction, sustainable employability should be implemented in the same way as strategic HR policies. HR objectives, including sustainable employability objectives, and results must be supported numerically. HR analytics plays a crucial role here because again, measurement = knowledge! This stage also includes accounting (financial) for the policies pursued.

Based on this periodic evaluation, the policy can be adjusted and/or further developed. Implementing sustainable employability in the organization in this way creates a continuous process through which the sustainable employability of the organization continues to increase, thereby also improving performance of the organization as a whole.

Conclusion

The power of a good sustainable employability policy is to create opportunities for individual tailoring at all times. There is no “plug and play” concept for sustainable employability. Tackling sustainable employability based on the continuous improvement principles creates a manageable process that is fully aligned with HR, and therefore organizational, objectives. Sustainable employability is of great importance to the entire organization.

Preconditions

This article shows that sustainable employability can only succeed if it is an integral part of strategic HR policies. The following preconditions are important here:

• Vision and policy – there must be a shared vision and policy supported by all stakeholders;
• Leadership – executive management must have sufficient competencies to implement policies;
• Team strength – the various teams must be aware of the importance of sustainable employability, creating a culture of acceptance and motivation to participate in the individual programs;
• HR analytics – performance indicators must be acceptable, measurable, available and interpretable by HR;
• Continuous improvement – sustainable employability is an integral part of HR policies and demonstrably contributes to the organization’s strategic goals.

In a model

All the steps described can be fitted into the PDCA model. Linking strategy to execution creates a continuous improvement process, based on which sustainable employability can successfully become part of any organization.

Role of the consultant

In recent years, many initiatives have been launched in the area of sustainable employability. Entire professional groups have emerged to address the issue. But to say that this has made the matter clearer? Because of the many different parties with their own interests, views and perspectives, many employers can’t see the forest for the trees. In our opinion, an integral top-down approach linked to organizational goals is the only way to successfully implement sustainable employability.

Yet there is also an important role for specialists in their specific fields. For example, a pension consultant for calculating scenarios of the costs of a generation plan, a (health) insurance company for participating in vitality programs or a career coach for guiding employees in making choices during their careers. A sustainable employability consultant can guide the employer through this diverse playing field. These are just a few examples of specializations within the field of sustainable employability.

In short: sustainable employability is not an HR party. Nor is it a plaything of the countless consultants in the field. Sustainable employability is primarily a subject of the employer and its staff, with HR, together with its carefully selected partners, facilitating the organization in its implementation.