Sustainable employability of staff: You immediately reap the benefits. Make work on the health, involvement and development of your employees. Not only does this increase your job satisfaction, but your absenteeism will also decrease and your productivity will increase. Certainly a win-win situation.
Staff who enjoy the work they do will work longer. They suffer much less from health problems due to stress and excessive work pressure.
Both the employer and the employee will have to ensure that they stay fit and healthy. As a supervisor, you will have to keep your staff up-to-date so that they can keep up with the rapidly changing workplace.
Then as a company, you are well on the way to sustainable employability of your staff.
What is sustainable employable personnel?
Sustainable employability focuses on the young and older employees within the company. As a company you want all staff to remain employable. Because well-deployable staff can respond better to changes within the organization. They are not stuck in their duties, but easily take on other tasks where necessary. A change in their career is made through proper consultation.
To ensure that your staff can also be deployed sustainably, the specific circumstances and wishes of your staff will have to be taken into account as much as possible. Every employee is in a different phase of his or her life and career.
Also read: learning objectives for employees (to prevent absence)
Why do you want sustainably employed staff?
Society is changing rapidly nowadays. You are constantly updating your strategy to grow the business. Unfortunately recruiting staff is a stumbling block in many companies. The strategy is ready for the future, but it does not include the already existing employees’ staff.
Therefore, do not forget to include the vision for the future of the company in the personnel policy. A company cannot get any further if you implement new processes at full speed, but leave existing staff in confusion.
Read also: Learning goals for managers (to reduce absenteeism)
The consequences of unsustainable staff
Companies in which the link between employer and staff is not optimal feel the effects of non-sustainable staff daily. We see this especially in companies where senior management regularly rotates, where many reorganisations take place or when growth is due to takeovers.
The staff cannot keep up properly with the new strategies. The workload increases due to unclear communication. And the sickness absence increases just as fast.
Read also: Health in the workplace
Keep your staff involved
Personnel involved requiring an investment to strengthen the bond between the company and the employee. By keeping your staff involved in the developments within the company you stimulate involvement and flexibility.
Show that you think it is important for the staff to meet their needs. Sincerely listen to your staff with interest. Sustainable employability is a combination of binding people to you and giving them room to grow.
In a modern company, it is necessary that you can change strategy quickly and flexibly. Changes inevitably follow. They must be carried out by your staff.
It is therefore in your interest that your staff remain involved. Good communication is the first step and also the most important.
Also read about: employee involved
Sustainable deployment is widely deployable
Sustainable employees can be deployed widely within the company. That is if you invest in the retraining or retraining of your employees. By continuously training your staff in the direction the company is going, you will always have the right people on the shop floor.
Ensure that the staff understands and supports the business strategy. Because of their involvement with the company, they will choose training courses that fit in with this strategy. Involved personnel will want to make an effort to offer the company more value.
Also read: Delegate and let go as a manager
Sustainable occupation in the workplace
Sometimes a strategy change means that fewer people are needed for the work that needs to be done. Do not wait until the last moment to update your workforce. Make sure you grow towards this strategy.
Do not replace the natural outflow with new staff, but reduce the required number of employees. Try to compensate for temporary under-utilization with temporary staff, to prevent overloading your staff.
This method ensures that the remaining staff can be deployed sustainably. Do certain employees not fit within the new strategy? Search for a position elsewhere within the company or try to arrange a position for them with a business partner.
That way, good staff is never far away and you can use mutually suitable staff for certain activities.
Also, read about internal mobility
Encourage your staff to be permanently employable
As soon as your staff understand where you want the company to go, they will start working in a more targeted and productive way. And you need that on the current market. An organization that remains relevant and agile can respond faster and better to customer demand.
Encourage your staff to continue to learn and develop themselves. Investing in knowledge is good, but it goes further than just training. All experiences that an employee has increases his value. Therefore allow your staff to tackle challenging jobs. It keeps them sharp and motivated.
Fit employees are healthy and have a good time at work. As a manager, do not prescribe the law, but let your employees grow.
Also read: talk about work stress
Training staff to become modern employees
New technology and changes within the company can cause unrest among your staff. The fear of losing their job can cause resistance. And that is precisely what you want to prevent.
Resistance among employees stands in the way of the flexibility and agility of the organization. This resistance can turn into cynicism at some point. Personnel is less involved with the company, pending an impending dismissal.
Proper preparation for changes within the company removes this uncertainty among employees. Because automation does not always mean that jobs are about to expire. Perhaps the annoying odd jobs will be eliminated as a result, so that your staff will be able to do more on the important tasks.
Communicate well what future changes mean. This prevents employees from putting their heels in the sand, while this is not necessary at all.
Also read: let an employee express himself
Offers staff adequate control
Today’s employees can no longer be compared to those of the past. Where employees that did blindly what the boss told them to do, it is now different. People no longer work just to make money for their livelihood. They work to improve themselves, as a person.
Therefore offer your staff adequate control over their career. Help them sketch their future and look together at what a good strategy is within the company. Do they want to grow and what are their ambitions?
Sketch a realistic picture of what is possible within the company. Show which strategy the organization follows and which people are needed for that. Does this employee want to grow into the future position?
Showing your staff what training and vitality can bring them ensures that people get moving.
Also, read the signs of stress among employees
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Sustainable deployment, less chance of burnout
Personnel that can be used sustainably, that is personnel you can always rely on. Fit, healthy employees, you can count on that. To keep your employees so fit and vital it is important not to overwork them. Too high a workload can cause annoying health problems and increase sick leave.
So make sure that your staff have enough time to discharge stress and refuel energy. The group of young people is extra sensitive to a burnout. They often find making choices difficult and want to do everything perfectly.
Give your staff space and time for themselves. Consider, for example, unlimited vacation days. You do not have to be so afraid that this will be abused. Many employees have a high sense of responsibility and ambition. For this group, time is extra important to remain permanently employable.
Finding the right balance between ambition and relaxation can be difficult for these employees. By giving them space, they will be more effective and focused.
Also, read the signs of burnout among employees
Prevent burnout, trust the sense of responsibility of your staff
Offering employees the freedom to complete their work themselves offers them authority. As long as there is control over the things that need to be done, stress is experienced less strongly. They can organize their own time and determine which work must be done first and what can wait.
As a manager, you have to rely on the sense of responsibility of your staff. This is not always easy and you will have to experience it yourself. Organize the work according to the talents of your employees. Clearly map out the competencies, relevant knowledge and work expectation. Your staff can conclude from this themselves what needs to be done to achieve the goals.
It is important to keep an eye on the fact that employees do not fail. Especially the group of youngsters with a high sense of responsibility is easy to talk through and runs the risk of burnout.
Teach your staff that it is ok to sometimes be ‘off’. Being online all the time, which is the norm nowadays, provides a lot of incentives. The overwhelming data supply can quickly become too much in a busy period. As a result, stress-related complaints are becoming more common. And not only because of too high a workload.
Also, read about Sustainable employment
Investing in sustainable employable personnel
Do you find investing in sustainably deployable staff too expensive? Paying for training courses for staff that may soon work for the competitor? Good handling of your staff always pays for itself.
Dealing with your staff honestly and sincerely gives your organization a good name. Not just among your employees. Your customers will also notice this.
Investing in sustainable employable personnel has many advantages. Your staff consumes less care because the stress level is many times lower. This provides a demonstrable reduction in costs.
An employee you have invested in can work for another company. They have that freedom. But if you have treated this employee fairly, chances are that he or she will come back to you at a certain moment. The clear future perspectives ensure peace because staff working for you do not have to worry about the future.
Read also: Personal Development of employees
Factors that stand in the way of sustainable employability
Various factors in the workplace can stand in the way of sustainable employability. Increasing enjoyment of work is an important factor that keeps employees working longer, without being bothered by a high workload.
A negative working atmosphere ensures a higher level of stress. This does not contribute to sustainably deployable personnel. Other factors that could hinder the work happiness of staff:
Bullying behaviour is an important factor that can stand in the way of the happiness of your employees.
Not just for the person being bullied. This is also a tense situation for the employees around it, which negatively affects the working atmosphere and productivity. Therefore, be keen on bullying, discrimination and intimidation. Extra absenteeism and an increased risk of employees with burnout are lurking.
More about Bullying on the workfloor
Aggression in the workplace increases stress.
Aggression and violence in the workplace can come from colleagues or customers and patients. For example, ambulance personnel. Violence and aggression must be prevented in the workplace. It reduces work pleasure and ultimately leads to sick leave and burnout.
Also, read about Work pleasure
Lack of progress stands in the way of sustainable employability.
An employee who is stuck in a range of duties will not be able to move flexibly with changes within the company. Invest in the development and addition of knowledge. Not just for younger staff. The elderly are also important. Here is an important part of the knowledge and experience within the organization.
Read also about the continued growth of employees
An unhealthy lifestyle leads to higher absenteeism.
Make sure your employees eat healthily and exercise well. As a result, absenteeism will decrease and more energy will be used. Encourage healthy eating in the workplace and give employees the space to get their exercise done on a workday.
Read about employee health
Physical overload causes a lot of failures.
Heavy lifting is a clear indication of physical overload. But also underloading, such as long sitting, causes a lot of failures. Sitting is the new smoking, it causes many physical complaints and is bad for overall health.
Little involvement within the company stands in the way of sustainable employability.
Both involvement with work and being involved with each other is important within the organization. Working from one’s responsibility, but in collaboration with others, ensures a close team that enjoys carrying out the work.
Let sustainable employability come from two sides
As a manager, you can take all kinds of measures to make your employees more sustainable. Invests in their knowledge by providing training. Ensure clear communication about what is expected of them. Listen to their wishes and support them in their personal development.
But how do you make them responsible for their employability? Many highly skilled employees realize the importance of keeping their knowledge and skills up to date. Besides, there is also a group that finds that they are perfectly in place and do not intend to move. How do you get these employees to develop themselves?
Prevent staff rusting
Personnel who have been working in the organization for a long time can get stuck in a range of tasks at a given moment. It is difficult to get these employees out again. Some companies work with ‘job rotation’. The idea here is to have staff change jobs every four to seven years.
In this way, you loosen up stuck staff and encourage you to do things differently. You may need additional training for this position, which will further develop your employee. That, in turn, is beneficial for his or her further career.
Offers all employees the same number of options
Investing in young employees is logical. You expect that they will continue to work within the organization for years to come. But if you want older employees to remain employable for a long time, you will also have to offer them the same opportunities.
Offering training to older employees is not only good to keep them working longer, at the level you want. It is also a good example for the younger employees within the team. You show that you encourage a long career within the company. This increases the chance that young staff will not choose the competitor. The future of employees is secured within your organization.
Encourage personal development and health
A sustainably employable employee does not only grow in his or her knowledge and skills. Personal development is just as important. Therefore provide a wide range of courses, in addition to the substantive training. Think, for example, of courses in time management, assertiveness or mindfulness.
Encourage healthy behaviour by, for example, offering fitness programs and offering the opportunity for a healthy lunch. This is possible in the canteen of the company or at a lunchroom just down the road. Reward good behaviour in this, so that your employees take more responsibility for their sustainable employability.
Ensure more involvement within the organization
Regularly check how your staff is in the organization. Enthusiastic staff who feel little involvement with the company are more likely to look for another job. As a result, you lose talented employees.
Conversely, employees may find the organization great, but not in place in their work. This does not benefit productivity. Staff are stuck in several fixed tasks and do not feel the urge to work innovatively themselves.
If you notice one of the above situations within the company, take action. Provide more work pleasure, listen to your staff and offer opportunities.
Conquer burnout and stress
Reducing stress and recovering from burnout can be quite the challenge. With the help of our professional coaches, we are convinced that a full recovery is within reach. Our years of experience has taught us what stepping stones will help you reach your goal more effectively and how to make sure the changes you make will be of help to you for the rest of your life. Let’s turn your burnout or stress into your best life ever.
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