In 2011, Dutch social partners agreed on a social charter in which they outlined a route towards a new form of industrial relations, with a view to sustainable employability. Training, vitality, working conditions, diversity and individual choices are the charter’s main elements. Sustainable employability concerns not just older workers but all workers (Skugor and Bekker, 2012). The aim of the social partners is to conclude collective labour agreements that take into account the individual capacities and capabilities of workers. The charter also calls for the decision-making process to be brought closer to the workers in the older age groups, to encourage them to work longer and invest in training and the renewal of skills.
In line with the country’s strong social dialogue, the charter resulted in the Sustainable Employability programme implemented in April 2012, in agreement between the government and the social partners. The goals are to prevent unemployment and illness as well as to improve productivity levels in the whole working population, regardless of age. Firm participation is voluntary and encourages dissemination of good practices through
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networking. Around 1 000 firms are involved so far. The role of the government is to provide legislation supporting an extension of working life and appropriate training and education for adults. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment has established a small team to promote the programme and co-ordinate activities.
The target group for the Sustainable Employability programme is made up of those firms that are already performing well, in the sense that they are early adopters of the concept. Firms work along different lines to implement sustainable employability in a way that is appropriate for them. Box 4.4 exemplifies this by showing how a Dutch pharmaceutical company is aiming to enforce sustainable employability through implementing a work- life balance concept.
Box 4.4. Astellas: Work-life balance in the centre
The pharmaceutical company Astellas has as an aim to foster a workplace where all employees can feel secure as they focus on their tasks; and promote a diversity that will attract a broad range of employees. They have developed a flexible yet comprehensive approach to match the needs and characteristics of each of the countries and regions where they are present. The Dutch branch has combined this approach with the Employer of Choice notion to implement a sustainable employability vision, covering:
• Work-life balance: Options include flexible working hours, part-time work and
working from home.
• Improving employee health: Health promotion programmes, and a progressive
approach toward mental health checks.
• Respect for human rights: Equal opportunities for employment and training,
employee health and safety, and prevention of harassment at the workplace.
• Respect for diversity: Promoting opportunities for women, and facilitating work for employees with health impairments.
• Occupational safety and health: Initiatives aimed at ensuring safety and
preventing work-related accidents.
• Labour management and communication: Engage employees by holding open
discussions in which they can voice their concerns and ideas.
As a result of implementation, 85% of employees are more proud of the company than they expected; 79% rate Astellas as an above-average company to work for; and work-life balance has improved for 62%.
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Changes in practices are often motivated by challenges met by employers. One example is the Norwegian company Oslo Airport AS (Box 4.5). Through systematic focus on health promoting measures they retain important senior competence longer, facilitating transfer of experience, from senior to junior as well as from junior to senior. The initiative is inspired by the more than one decade old tripartite Inclusive Workplace Agreement.
This diversity across firms is a good basis for learning and synergies; the challenge could be to avoid fragmentation and a lack of focus. Similar initiatives have been tried in the Netherlands in the past, but these had limited success. It is too early to measure the effects of the programme, but the Labour Foundation and the Ministry of Social Affairs will monitor its activities and development. Since the Sustainable Employability programme seems to play a prominent role in Dutch labour market policy, outcomes from the monitoring should be used actively in any further policy making, and should also be the basis for more formal evaluations. The effects of the programme on older workers should be one of the key issues in implementation as well as in evaluation. One aspect that may be challenging to evaluate is the extent to which good practices are adopted by firms that are not participating in the programme.
“Work-to-work” transitions to support mobility
The great responsibility assigned Dutch employers for costs related to sick leave and disability among their employees may have resulted in increased prevention, as intended. These measures are not, however, likely to support greater job mobility. People associated with high risks of health impairment may experience bigger problems in (re-)entering the labour market if for some reason they lose their job. Moreover, employers do not have the same level of responsibility in layoff situations as they have for the sick and disabled. That gap can increase the risk of dismissals for people with high sickness or disability risks.
Euwals et al. (2013) discuss policy options to improve employment for older people, and to avoid a bias towards dismissals to sidestep reintegration responsibilities. One of the alternatives is to tax firms through higher contributions to unemployment insurance if older workers are dismissed. Over the period 1987-2008 France had in place a layoff tax to discourage layoffs of workers above the age of 50 (Delalande tax). The mechanism was changed several times during this period, providing an opportunity to evaluate the effects on hiring and firing. Behaghel, Crépon and Sédillot (2008) found that the tax had a negative effect on the hiring of unemployed older workers, but mixed effects on layoffs; the net effect was ambiguous. The experience demonstrates the risk of aggravating “insider/outsider” effects.
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Box 4.5. Oslo Airport – enable informed decisions about work and retirement
Oslo Airport AS is the managing company of the airport, and has 510 employees. Average age of the staff is 46 years, and 27% are above the age of 55. They include a number of competencies and occupations, but male dominated occupations as fire and rescue crews and maintenance of the runway explains why 75% are men. A comprehensive health promoting programme is one of the explanations why effective retirement age increased from 63 to 66 years over a three years period. Some main elements are:
• A long-term perspective, starting with discussions with unions, company health care and line managers.
• Started up with a pilot project for one group of senior employees (the fire and rescue crew), including mandatory fitness training during working hours and information and training about diet and physical activity. After nine months, most of them had improved their fitness, and reduced blood pressure and levels of cholesterol. • After the initial phase, the project was implemented on a broad basis in the
organisation as part of a life-cycle approach, based on four pillars; health, competence, management and flexible working hours.
• Physical activity for all employees is a centerpiece with an aim to encourage people to exercise at least 30 minutes of physical activities per day; “friendly competitions” and activities as “lunch walks” create relationships across professional and organisational borderlines, and improve work environment.
• All staff above the age of 58 is invited to a senior seminar. One of the tasks is to make a list of what they will miss if they stop working. In general this is a lot, and most people decide to continue, in their present job or they change to other jobs. • A main aim of the seminars is to encourage seniors to take informed decisions about
their future. Employees must be pro-active and discuss their future career with their supervisors and line managers.
Employees above the age of 62 have three weeks extra holiday. The explanation is that even if work ability may decrease by age, work achievements may increase if the working conditions are supportive.
Rather than relying on measures to protect certain groups, a combined approach that includes removal of barriers on the employers’ side, cost reductions, and increased employability can be more targeted toward removal of the structural problems facing older workers, and have more impact in the long run. The government’s Budget Memorandum 2014 (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, 2013) includes new measures to offset this negative impact on hiring and job mobility. The government has proposed a budget of EUR 300 million over 2014-15 to support “work-to-work” projects and training across sectors. The aim is to avoid
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unemployment through layoff, by helping workers enter directly into a new job. The concrete measures are still to be decided among the social partners.
These measures are not exclusively for older workers. Still, measures to help workers enter directly into new jobs can be especially important for them. Older unemployed people have difficulties getting back to work; measures to support easier work-to-work transitions for this age group should be a priority, and is an essential accompaniment of reforms of EPL and unemployment insurance. Public subsidies require targeting vulnerable groups, such as older workers. A new labour market structure being discussed in the social dialogue should take this into account, to concretise well-designed obligations and responsibilities in the “work-to-work” projects.